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Obiturary found! Written by Lora's son.
I learned of Lora's death, a couple of months after she died of a heart attack in her sleep. Lora had had a stroke almost 9 years ago and had rehapped her way back to good health over the following year. Personally I had gone all the way through school with Lora from first grade at Greeley school and Skokie Jr High through NTE in Winnetka, and then even 4 years as a Duck at the University of Oregon. One summer we drove home non stop from Eugene to Winnetka. I think I have a photo. Lora was fun and easy to talk with.
-Connie Geocaris
https://everloved.com/life-of/lora-lee/obituary/
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John "Chimo" Chimoures
I too am saddened to learn of Lora’s passing. We were in the same 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade classrooms together. I remember her as quite, but always friendly. I still recall the time in 5th grade when I skipped after school “make-up" class to play German dodgeball in the gym. Mrs. Merrick sent Lora to the gym to bring me back. I recall her saying, “John, you have to return to class with me… you know better”. Perhaps a better fate than being pummeled by red rubber balls which Andy Simpson always targeted at me.
Daniel Herrmann
dan herrmann
Rip Lora , you were a kind , funny , sweet , girl and women who brought joy to so many .
grateful to have shared some moments at Skokie Jr High and New Trier .
You will be missed and remembered .
Will (Bill) Jennings
I met Lora at NTE and really we only knew each other tangentially, finding ourselves in the same class and near each other on seating charts because J and L were alphabetically proximate. I do remember we found ourselves in the summer session 'make-up math' class after our first year. I'd bombed Alegrba in the Fall and then took remdial under the tutelage of Mr. Lindley that spring...and he, patiently, helped me unlock the door. But the summer session was an early class and brutal on the Thursday mornings after Wednesday night concerts at Ravinnia where the Boone's Farm flowed under smoke clouds in the shadows of The Lawn. Lora and I both would stare at the Thursday morning pop quizzes, blink, sigh, and we'd both share a look and eye rolls, which hurt and were followed by winces. I remember painting the classroom walls in Mr. Pink's post-Essalen teaching methods phase and we both tried to reconcile the disjunct of pedagogical approaches NTE sometimes presented with resultant whiplash for the unsuspecting. Lora was funny, self-deprecating, and easy for a shy person with not a great deal of self-esteem to talk to...and she was quick to compliment people for small things they'd say, or do. I admired her for those things back then and wished I'd have had the gumption to know her better. I didn't know many people at NTE because I came from Locust in west Wilmette, so people like Lora really stood out and made the place better and more inclusive. I was always glad to see her in a class on the first day. That summer make-up math class was just torture, but we survived it with far better grades than we imagined ending up with after those brutal Thursday post-concert quiz days. Thanks for being kind and generous, Lora. You are remembered and missed by many.
Hudson Fair
Lora Lee was a great friend to me and many of my cadre. Lora and Jerry Ross, her husband, raised their three children, Jack, Emma, and Alison in Santa Monica, CA and she worked a number of highprofile jobs in Hollywood with Paramount Pictures story dept., for John Hughes's company, for Nickelodeon, and other positions requiring her wide expertise and talent. Jerry is a much in demand Sound Supervisor and Sound Design man in Hollywood.
Decamping from Santa Monica, most recently she was living in San Diego with her boyfriend Rusty.
One day in August 1973, I told her I was transferring to Univ. of Oregon in Eugene. I knew that she wanted to transfer from Coe College but had not heard where she had chosen to go. "Well can I get a ride out west 'cause I'm going to University of Oregon too." What a surprise! It was a gala year there in the rain forest.
We dated in high school and college and I knew all about her and her interests and about her family. Her mom is still alive and lives in Evanston. We used to travel to NYC for summer vacation and spend weeks there exploring. A wonderfully lively woman with hilarious humor and deep insight into people and situations.
In 2009 the news came in that Lora had had a stroke which greatly affected her body and speech. She built her way back with many different therapies and a strong commitment to getting back to herself. I asked her about the stroke sometimes and she downplayed it and, to me, she was back to herself pretty much.
Jerry Ross called me in October 2019 with the news of her passing. Things haven't been the same since for me.
Mark Buckingham (Buckingham)
Lora was my junior prom date! A lark, perhaps, but both comical and adventurous! Lora was a delight to be with! Fun and ebullient! The pictures taken by my parents, if retrieved, priceless!
Rest easy!
Sara Bennett (Springer)
Lora's passing also has affected me deeply. She was my good friend for so many years, beginning in Junior year at NTE. We bonded over books and music, played our guitars together and sang and had many good times with the group of friends in and around the "North Shore of America" as she liked to say. It seemed like we were laughing all of the time, as we tried to figure out Life.. We spent countless hours listening to Carole King"s tapestry, Traffic"s low-spark of high heeled boys, The grateful Dead, Bos Scaggs.. at her house on Elder lane. We read Ken kesey, Jack Kerouac, Lenorad Cohen, Sylvia Plath. Herman Hesse... Many days when she would get home after school, she would go straight to the piano and play a few bars of Moon River..
We stayed in touch by frequent letters throughout college,both living in the NW, and after that for many years, sharing our adventures. She was a great writer. I loved her spirit, her bravery, her humor, and her way of humble tenacity. She understood people.
I saw her several times on Guemes Island at the Ross family cabin, in the San Juans, over the years, and visited her in Santa Monica in 2007. We talked on the phone every few months after she had her stroke. There was always a visit in the future..
At her life Celebration in Santa Monica, on the Winter Solstice in 2019, her three children Jack, Emma and Alice, spoke so lovingly and eloquently about their mother. There, I was lucky to reconnect wiht her mom, and her wonderful sisters and brothers, truly soul nourishing. Many friends from her later life paid tribute to Lora, straight from their hearts. Lora touched so many people over the years, a Life well lived.
Missing you, my friend,
Thank you for the memories.
Sara