Norman Waldo Lohrenz

© Fairview Funeral Home, Inc.

07-2007

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

© Fairview Funeral Home, Inc.

© Glenn

Funeral services for Norman Waldo Lohrenz, 81, of Garland Texas, formally of Orienta, Oklahoma, will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 7, 2007 , at Saron Mennonite Church in Orienta. The Rev. Arnold Curby will officiate. Burial will follow at the Saron Mennonite Cemetery with arrangements by Fairview Funeral Home Inc.

Friends and family will gather for Visitation at the Fairview Funeral Home from 5-7pm on Friday, July 6, 2007.

Norman Waldo Lohrenz, of Orienta, Oklahoma, passed into the Lord’s presence on July 3. Norman was born on August 6, 1925, to John and Lena Lohrenz, the fourth of their nine children.

Norman’s life centered around his family and his service to the Lord, particularly in Nigeria, West Africa, where he served as a missionary for nearly thirty years.

In his childhood years Norman attended Sharron Valley School (Orienta), Orienta School, and then Fairview High School. When Norman was eleven years old, during a revival service, Norman gave his life to Christ. He completed his last two years of high school at Oklahoma Bible Academy (Meno). During a missionary conference at the school he felt the Lord’s call into full-time service.

After graduation in 1944 he was drafted into the Civilian Public Service where he was based at Fort Collins, Colorado. This was followed by studies at Grace Bible Institute (Omaha). It was here that Norman made two momentous decisions, to go to Africa as a missionary and to ask for the hand of Betty Louise Dunham, a fellow student from Findlay, Ohio. He and Betty were married on July 31, 1949, and two years later the couple left for missionary service with Sudan Interior Mission (now Serving in Mission).

Their missionary career was focused in southwestern Nigeria, West Africa. In their first term they were stationed at Igbaja Bible College and doing village work in Oke-ode. It was here that they learned the Yoruba culture and language. After their first term of service, Norman returned for further studies, earning his B.D. at Grace Theological Seminary (Indiana). Upon completion of his degree in 1958, they returned to Nigeria, and from then until 1979 when they left the mission field they were in ministry at Igbaja Seminary training Nigerian pastors for the church. Norman taught subjects in Greek language (his favorite) and New Testament, managed compound maintenance and construction, and once acted as interim principal for the school. Hundreds of Nigerian students came to know him as their teacher and model in Christian service. To this day, he is fondly remembered as “Baba” (Daddy) Lohrenz by a multitude of Nigerian pastors, teachers, and church workers who were shaped by his godly example, hard work, and dedication to Christ.

Norman and Betty returned to the US due to the health of Betty’s mother. Their involvement in mission efforts continued through visiting donors, hosting prayer meetings, and church activities, first in Ohio and then (since 1992) in the Dallas area. Their missionary heart and Christian commitment continues also in all of their children, three of whom serve as overseas missionaries. Two of their grandchildren are also serving the Lord overseas at this time.

The Lohrenzes were blessed with five children. Sharon (born 1951) and her husband, Richard Cook, are Southern Baptist missionaries in Guatemala. John (1952) and his wife, Jan, are missionaries with CAM in Spain. Beth (1955) and her husband, Scott Cunningham, have served in Nigeria, also with SIM. Barbara (1960) is a nurse in Dallas and provides a home in the US for her missionary siblings. The Lohrenzes fourth child, Jimmy (1957), died in Nigeria at the age of 16 months.

Besides these four children, Norman is survived by his loving wife, Betty, his brother, Gene (Fairview), and two sisters, Donna Nickel (Weatherford) and Lorraine Buller (Hydro). His nine surviving grandchildren are Andrew, Timothy, and Ben Lohrenz; Scott Jr, Marc, and Micah Cunningham; and Toni Falkner, Jennifer Diaz, and Rebecca Cook. They have one great-grandchild, James Diaz, son of Jennifer.

Norman was preceded in death by his parents, one infant brother, and four sisters, Anita Robertson, Betty Goddard, Marlena Glasgow, and Wanda Decker

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