Loraine H. Welch was born in 1929 in Michigan, the daughter of Harry Arthur and Bernice M. (Burgett) Welch. In 1930, the Welch family (Harry, Bernice, Loraine and older sister Marjorie) was living in Hamtramck, Wayne County, Michigan. Harry was working as a die maker in an auto factory. The 1940 census located Harry, Bernice, Marjorie, Loraine and younger siblings James and Shirley residing in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. Harry was a “trouble man” for the tool department in an auto factory. Loraine, attending school, had completed the fifth grade. Loraine graduated from Cass Tech High School in Detroit, and in 1950 was living in Goodison Hall, an all-girls dormitory at Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The 1950 yearbook for the MSNC listed Loraine as from Detroit, studying home economics; the 1951 yearbook showed her photograph as a member of the class of 1952. After graduation, Loraine went on to teach in the Detroit School District.
While Loraine was in college, her father died suddenly in 1950 at the age of only 44 years. Her mother, Bernice, was married a second time in 1951 to Otto Oswald Hempel.
Loraine was married to Natt Bailey Anderson Jr. Natt had been first married in 1947 to Freida Marie Oglesby; they were divorced in 1952. Loraine later earned her master’s degree in Clothing and Textiles (presumably a division of home economics?) from Wayne State University. Loraine began her Avondale High School teaching career in 1966, teaching home economics and swimming. The 1986 AHS yearbook reported her as a teacher of Life Skills. When I met her, in the fall of 1987, she was my Health and Swimming teacher. When she began studying to be a teacher of home economics in the late 1940s, I doubt she ever envisioned herself dragging thirty reluctant and embarrassed teenagers at a time through a rudimentary sex education, nutrition and first aid course. She did the best she could; she even used “new” teaching methods and rarely taught by lecturing. Due to a knee injury sustained playing intramural soccer that would continue to plague me throughout high school, after the first month in freshman PE I was given a pass to do just swimming for the rest of the school year. It was thought that instead of exacerbating my injury, swimming would provide physical therapy. So instead of just the one marking period of Health and one marking period of Swimming, I spent the whole year with Mrs. Anderson. She knew my strengths and limitations quite well by the end of the year. While swimming was indeed better for my knee than the other sports done in PE, that was also the year we discovered I had a heart murmur and couldn’t hold my breath for very long or breathe efficiently doing any swimming stroke with my face in the water. I remember Mrs. Anderson told my mom at conferences that my face would turn grey doing more than one length of crawl. So, I did a lot of side stroke, back stroke, and “elementary” back stroke.
Mrs. Anderson retired at the end of my freshman year, in the spring of 1988. It is no wonder that she retired at the age of only fifty-eight years, given that they had her teaching what must have seemed like anything but her specialty. Home Economics, while still taught at the middle school in my era, had not been offered at the high school in quite some time. The Andersons moved to Sarasota, Florida in 1989. Loraine was registered to vote in Sarasota in 1992.
Loraine’s mother, Bernice, passed away in 1993 in Idaho. Her stepfather, Otto Hempel, died in 1995 in Florida.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 28 September 2001.
“Natt Bailey Anderson, 75, Sarasota, died Sept. 24, 2001. He was born Jan. 4, 1926, in Pleasant Ridge, Mich., and came to Sarasota in 1989 from Troy, Mich. He was a commercial printer and was a Navy veteran of World War II. He was a 32nd-degree Mason, a member of Sahib Temple and a life member of Royal Oak Elks Lodge 1523, Michigan. He was a member of Bee Ridge Presbyterian Church. Survivors include his wife, Loraine W.; a daughter, Elizabeth A. Rhoades; a son, Mark A. of Sarasota; and three grandchildren. A memorial service will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The Little White Church of Bee Ridge Presbyterian Church. Robarts Funeral Home is in charge. Memorial donations may be made to Bee Ridge Presbyterian Church, 4826 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34233; or to Shriners Hospital for Children, c/o Recorder, Sahib Temple, 600 N. Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL 34232.”
Loraine’s sister, Marjorie Schwartz, passed away in 2021 in Cœur d’Alene, Idaho. Her brother, James Arthur Welch, died in 2022.
https://obituaries.baldwincremation.com/loraine-anderson
“Loraine W. Anderson was born on November 26, 1929 to the late Harry and Bernice Welch in Hamtramck, MI. Loraine passed away peacefully on July 14, 2024 in Sarasota, FL.
Loraine spent her childhood growing up in Hamtramck and spending her summers on Harsen Island at the family cottage. She graduated from Cass Tech High School in Detroit. Loraine went on to earn her teaching degree from Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern MI). Loraine taught in the Detroit School District before marrying Natt B. Anderson and moving to Royal Oak. She continued her education earning her Masters in Clothing and Textiles from Wayne State University. Loraine taught Home Ec. and Swimming at Avondale High School from 1966 until 1988. Loraine and Natt retired to Sarasota, where they enjoyed the sunshine together until Natt's death in 2001. Loraine is survived by her youngest sister, Shirley Pauzus, son, Mark Anderson, daughter, Elizabeth Rhoades, grandchildren, John Rhoades, Erin (Andrew) Eckhart, Matthew Rhoades and great-grandsons, Colin and Anderson Eckhart. Loraine was preceded in death by her parents, step-dad, husband, Natt, and siblings, Marjorie Schwartz and James Welch.”
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