Lorraine Carolyn Taylor

Lorraine Carolyn Taylor

Mechanicsville

Lorraine Carolyn Taylor, 97, of rural Mechanicsville, Iowa, took God’s hand and departed on the sunny morning of Aug. 17, 2022, at Lutheran Living in Muscatine with family at her side.

A funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22, at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Stanwood, Iowa, with visitation an hour before the service. The Rev. Dr. Andrew Watkins will officiate, and burial will follow at the Stanwood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a donation to either the Cedar County Historical Society or the American Heart Association.

Born in 1924, she was the daughter of Walter and Frieda (Busching) Lehrman of Stanwood, Iowa, and grew up on the family farm that her great-grandfather Henry Lehrman purchased in 1875. She was baptized and confirmed in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Lorraine graduated from Stanwood High School in 1942. She attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and completed her teaching degree in home economics in 1946. She was the first of her family to receive a college four-year degree.

Lorraine married Max Edwin Taylor of Tipton, Iowa on June 16, 1946, and they together successfully farmed the family “grain, hog and cattle farm” in rural Mechanicsville for over 40 years. Whether driving the two-row tractor mounted corn picker, boxing eggs from the two chicken houses, assisting her husband with a sow in the hog farrowing house or cooking for a farm hired man, she was her husband’s farm business partner.

After Max spotted her on the Stanwood High School girls basketball team, they dated for over five years during the war while Max farmed with his dad for the war effort. They were married nearly 70 years before her husband’s death in 2015, culminating a 75-year relationship.

A person with a positive outlook, Lorraine enjoyed being with family and friends, dancing, quilting, singing in church choir, traveling to Europe and Asia, and supporting her husband’s piano playing in church and at area nursing homes.

She was a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and belonged to the Loyal Workers Outreach committee of her church. She was an active member of the American Association of University Women and the General Federated Women’s Clubs. She was a strong supporter of women’s rights.

Lorraine led the family as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. They raised two devoted sons who will miss her dearly, Dennis (Cindy) Taylor of Muscatine, Iowa, and Gary (LeAnn) Taylor of Wichita, Kan. Also, she will be greatly missed by her grandchildren including Sara (George) Demos of Chicago, Ill. with great-granddaughters, Elysia and Evangeline; Matthew (Becky) Taylor of Keller, Texas, with great-grandsons, Landon and Ian; and Aubrey, Luke and Kaylyn Taylor of Greensboro, N.C.; stepgrandchildren, Mitchell Braden of Wichita, Kan., and Jake Braden; great-stepgrandson, Levi of California; and also by a niece, Nyla (Dean) McCall of Mount Vernon, Iowa.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; and her sister, Bethany Rinehart.

Chapman Funeral Home has Lorraine and her family in their care. Memories and condolences may be shared at www.chapmanfh.com.