faithful
Siberian
Husky,
Cy
r.i.p.
Born August 27, 1943 to Sam and Hilda Ratzloff in Lehigh, KS.
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels"
--Quoted by Lola in her school yearbook
An industrious farm girl who learned to milk cows and tend farm animals at four, Lola was also an excellent student in the one-room schoolhouse (Waldeck) about a mile from their family farm near the Santa Fe Trail outside Lehigh, KS.
As a youngster, Lola would often stand in the cow pasture and exchange waves with the engineer and conductor as the Santa Fe freight train rolled by on the tracks running between the school and the farm. At other times, she and her double-cousin, Adeline (Hiebert) Mills, from across the section could be found romping through the fields or playing in the creek that ran through the area. Her brother Clifford spent many hours of pleasure with them and many of the cousins, as well, between chores time on the farm.
When Lola was twelve, her family moved to the town of Warden, in the Columbia Basin of central Washington. A number of awards were granted Lola, including Warden Grade school (perfect attendance), Curtis Vocational Division (sales) , Warden Fair First Prize (canning), and repeated issues of certificates of appreciation from the Radio Club of Tacoma for her volunteer services in recent years.
While in high school, Lola was...
- Senior Class Treasurer
- Member of the Warden chapter of Honor Society
- Mary, wife of Leonard in ''Death of a Hired Man,'' winner of the
Eastern Washington State College drama contest - Choir member in her junior and senior years, and also at
- Girls' State, besides being a
- Member of the All Northwest Music Festival choir in Spokane, consisting of 550 voices from five western states.
Graduating from Warden High School on May 22, 1961, having sewn her own wedding gown, she married George on June 3, 1961.
Thus began a 64-year sojourn though life together. At various times Lola served in clerical capacities for agencies from the U.S. Forest Service to insurance
companies, university registrar's office, school librarian, as mailroom manager for the Fort Wayne Children's Home and as a church executive secretary
before becoming a vital cog in the family business as George transitioned from school teacher and administrator to printer/publisher.
Lola loved to sing, so was always active in church choirs as the family moved from place to place over the years. She also taught Sunday School to youngsters, following her mother's example.
In 1972, the role of motherhood materialized... with Lola teaching Sandra
about Jesus and how to read before she was in preschool.
Lola served as a classroom aide in the school's primary department.
Deeply passionate about natural health, she became sought after by others for her expertise. Her servant's heart led her to
assist a number of home-bound elderly folks as their caregiver in later years. She also loved nature and often had grass-stained clothes
(but weed-free garden patches and delicious produce) as a result.
On November 2, 2025, after enduring eleven years in the abysmal clutch of Alzheimer's Disease (and terminal cancer discovered just five days before she passed), Lola's spirit was escorted to heaven by an angel who presented her to the Lord Jesus, whom she dearly loved and served from the time she asked Him to be her Savior as a young child.
Preceded in death by her brother Clifford in 1964, and by her father Sam, mother Hilda in 2000 and 2005 respectively, and her aunt-in-law Margaret Rogers, Lola leaves behind her husband George, daughter Sandra, aunt-in-law Betty Gering and her husband Will of Auburn, WA; half-uncle-John Bunting and his wife Emily of Colville, WA and half-uncle Bruce Bunting and his wife Ann of Independence, OR. Many cousins, aunts and uncles from the Midwest will miss her as well.
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:4
Lola Mae
(old, but not a "dog!")
