Obituary of Lorraine Frances Hibbard

LORRAINE FRANCES HIBBARD

DAUGHTER, SISTER, WIFE,

WORKER, FRIEND, MOTHER,

GRANDMOTHER, GREAT GRANDMOTHER

GOD’S GIFT TO ALL WHO KNEW HER

LORRAINE FRANCES HIBBARD

Born: December 25, 1928, Springfield, Massachusetts

Died: November 28, 2021, Castle Rock, Colorado

November 28, 2021, the Lord opened his heavenly gates to call you home. He put his arms around you and lifted you to rest. God’s garden must be beautiful because he only takes the best and he chose you. I am yearning for your sweet gentle touch and loving smile just one more time. The tenderness you shared with all of us will never fade. My heart broke a million ways when I heard the news. I will never know a love deeper than yours that you bestowed unconditionally on all your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. You are my forever and always. I will wait patiently to see you in heaven. The memory of you is now our keepsake with which we will never part. God has her in his keeping. We have her in our heart.

(Abbreviated and reprinted with permission of the Author)

Leslie French Great Granddaughter

Daughter of: Frank and Christine Curto

Sister of: Nicholas Curto (deceased) and Joan (Betty) Conlon of Denver, Colorado

Wife of: Joseph Allen Hibbard (deceased)

Mother of: David Hibbard (deceased); Linda Vaughn of Parker, Colorado; James Hibbard of Buckeye, Arizona; William Hibbard of Lone Tree, Colorado; Susan Harman of Centennial, Colorado; Theresa Hibbard of Aurora, Colorado and Robert Hibbard of Aurora, Colorado.

Grandmother & Great Grandmother to thirty-nine (39) adored children who were the delight of her life!

Co-worker and friend to many over her lifetime.

Lorraine and Joe and their four (4) oldest children made their way from Massachusetts to Colorado in 1956 to seek medical care for their oldest son at National Jewish Hospital which was leading the way in the treatment of asthma. David did well under their treatment and in the drier climate. Joe and Lorraine fell in love with Colorado and decided to stay. Soon her mother and stepfather followed as did her sister Betty and the whole family became Coloradoans. The three youngest children were born in Colorado and eventually the family settled long term in Commerce City, Colorado.

Lorraine was a “liberated” woman before the term became known. She was a full-time working mother of seven (7) children. She did a brief stint as a night guard at the Denver County Jail. She decided she wanted to do something that challenged her brain and did not require her to work nights. She applied for work at the Jeppesen Company that produced the flight manuals for pilots. If you did not have a manual, you could not fly. She convinced the Supervisor who interviewed her to take a

chance on a mother of seven, promising to be on time every day and working only until she had earned enough money to buy a refrigerator. He agreed to hire her so she could buy that refrigerator.

She did not have a car to drive to work. Each morning she would walk five (5) miles to pick up a ride to work and each evening she walked that same five miles back. She did this for several years rain or shine.

Thirty- five years +, later she was still working for the same Supervisor and had worked her way up to become an Editor overseeing the accuracy and production of those critical flight manuals. At her retirement party that same Supervisor spoke very highly of her and her growth within the company but said he was baffled by one thing. He wanted to know what kind of refrigerator she had purchased that took 35+ years to pay for!

Lorraine was a devout Catholic and was dedicated to service in her church. She was a dependable volunteer and for many years sang in the choir. Lorraine had an opera quality voice, and her greatest pleasure was to sing in the church choir. It was a tearful experience to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and hear her sing. The sheer beauty of her voice made you cry.

Lorraine was a quiet, somewhat introverted woman with a quick wit and dry sense of humor. She graduated high school at age 16 and had an IQ most would have been surprised to know. Like most humans she was a complex individual being seen differently by all who knew her, each in their own experience with her. She was many different things to many different people. She was always true to herself and her beliefs and very protective of not only her children but all children. It was a simple, hard work life lived as she chose to live it. She will be missed.

“May the road rise to meet you, and the wind always be at your back and the rains fall softly on your fields. May God hold you gently in the palm of his hand.”

SERVICES WILL BE HELD

January 14, 2022, at 11:00 a.m.

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

2746 Fifth Street

Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

Internment with her husband at Ft. Logan Cemetery will be done at later date

NO FLOWERS PLEASE

She has requested in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the non-profit home that welcomed her in and took loving care of her in her last years:

Castle County Assisted Living

255 South Valley Drive Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

BECAUSE OF YOU

I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

IT IS PATIENCE. IT IS SACRIFICE. IT IS SHARING JOY AND KEEPING FAITH

IT IS WHAT MAKES US STRONG AND HELPS US FIND OUR WAY

BECAUSE OF YOU

I KNOW WHAT FAMILY IS

IT IS LAUGHING. IT IS LEANING ON EACH OTHER. IT IS

LEANING INTO EACH OTHER. IT IS BEING REAL. IT IS BEING FRIENDS

AND IT WILL ALWAYS BE THERE NO MATTER WHAT.

BECAUSE OF YOU

I KNOW WHAT IS AT TE HEART OF A GOOD LIFE

IT IS LOVE AND FAMILY

THOSE THINGS THAT ARE TRUE AND LASTING

THEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I KNOW THAT—BECAUSE OF YOU

(AUTHOR UNKNOWN)