Louise E. Lauer
Louise E. Lauer of Lebanon, formerly of Roann, died at 4:45 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, at the Homewood Health Campus in Lebanon. She was 87.
Mrs. Lauer, a native of Wabash County, was born Jan. 21, 1928, to John and Bessie (Yentes) Dieringer. She graduated from Huntington Township High School in 1945. She attended nursing school and worked for more than a decade at Wabash County Hospital and as a dental nurse. She and her late husband, Donald W. Lauer, were married 64 years.
A woman of vibrant faith and considerable compassion, Mrs. Lauer – known to family and close friends as “Susie” – was for many years an integral member of the Wabash/Roann/North Manchester community. She served for more than 20 years on the board of the Wabash County Mental Health Association. She and her husband owned and operated Lauer’s Farm Center, a grain elevator south of Roann, from 1968 until 1989.
Few things were more important to Mrs. Lauer than her journey of faith. She attended — and never relinquished membership in — the Roann Church of the Brethren. She was a charter member of one of her church’s central endeavors: the Roann Food Pantry.
After moving from Roann to Lebanon in 2005, Mrs. Lauer attended the Sugar Plain Friends Church in Thorntown.
Visiting, and being visited by, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren was a source of immense joy. Though a meticulous housekeeper, she was careful not to clean small finger- and handprints from the glass doors and windows of her Roann home. Those reminded her of the presence of children.
Mrs. Lauer is survived by two daughters: Jean (Vic) Dorr of Midlothian, Va.; and Judy (Jeff) Bolinger of Thorntown; four grandchildren: Jeni (Matt) Slaven of Ballwin, Mo.; Jeremy (Allison) Bolinger of League City, Texas; Katie (Adam) Simmons of Nokesville, Va.; and Erin Dorr of Charlottesville, Va.; and five great-grandchildren, Colton and Sydney Slaven of Ballwin and Andrew, Victoria and Matthew Simmons of Nokesville.
She was preceded in death by her husband and three brothers, Arden, Eldon and Arnold Dieringer.
Funeral services will by 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19, at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Ave., Wabash, with Pastor Larry Truitt and Pastor Kurt Snyder officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Lawns Cemetery, Wabash. Friends may call noon-2 p.m., Tuesday, at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial donations to the American Macular Degeneration Foundation, P.O. Box 515, Northampton, MA. 01061-0515.