C. (Payant) Dormer

Loraine Dormer, 92, formerly of Marquette and Iron Mountain, passed away on Monday, July 12, 2010, in Ann Arbor, Mich. after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Loraine was born on Sept. 16, 1917, in Iron Mountain, the youngest of five children of Joseph A. and Emma (LaFond) Payant. Blind from youth as a consequence of the global influenza outbreak of 1918-19, she attended the School for the Blind in Lansing for elementary and high school. She received her undergraduate training at Michigan State University and graduate training at the University of Pennsylvania. A lifetime advocate of independent living for people with disabilities, she began her career as a teacher at the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia. In the 1940s she was recruited by the State of Michigan to develop a program to help newly blind adults throughout the state. As one of the first two teachers in this program, she met her future husband, Dick Dormer, around 1950. During the 1970s and 1980s, Loraine was a regular fixture running the coffee shops first at the Marquette Medical Center and later at the Marquette County Court House. From about 1980 to 1995 when she was in her late 70s, she served as executive director of Way U.P. Center for Independent Living, a U.P. wide organization dedicated to helping people live independently with disabilities. A founding member of the Marquette Choral Society and a long time organist and choir director at St. John's Catholic Church in Marquette, Loraine was active in theater and many community activities. Loraine is survived by her only son, Douglas, his wife, Liz, and four grandchildren: Alison (27) (Dormer) Cowan of Chicago, Joseph (20), Daniel (19), and William (10) of Ann Arbor. Visitation will be held on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Erickson Rochon & Nash Funeral Home in Iron Mountain. A Mass will be said at St. Mary and St. Joseph Church in Iron Mountain at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fr. Daniel Zaloga will offer the Mass of Christian Burial. Burial will follow at Iron Mountain Cemetery Park. Those wishing to make an expression of sympathy are kindly asked to consider a local U.P. charity of the donor's choice in Loraine's memory. Condolences may be expressed online to the family of C. Loraine Dormer at www.ernashfuneralhomes.com The family has entrusted the Erickson-Rochon & Nash Funeral Home of with the funeral arrangements.

C. (Payant) Dormer

September 16, 1917 - July 12, 2010