Obituary of Lorna Jean Plante

Lorna was born in Vernal, Utah to William and Bessie Abbott. She grew up in Utah and Grand Junction, Colorado. Acting and art were her primary interests in secondary school. Later, she graduated with a business degree from Denver University. While employed with Connecticut General Life Insurance she traveled throughout the county providing assistance to local offices. On her travels she met and later married Thomas J. Plante, a patent attorney from South Bend, Indiana. Lorna designed and acted as general contractor for the construction of the family home in South Bend. As a housewife she was active in school affairs and later in a Unitarian Fellowship when Thomas was transferred to Michigan by his employer Bendix Corporation. Their new home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan was also designed principally by Lorna and she managed the later stages of construction. Much of her time was consumed by raising two rambunctious boys but she managed to stay very active in the Unitarian Society. She was particularly creative with her hands and enjoyed pottery, jewelry making, lapidary, woodworking and sewing and contributed her works to fundraising efforts that she organized for the church. In her forties, she returned to school, earning an advanced degree in psychology from Michigan State University. Lorna went on to serve as a school testing psychologist for over a decade with the Rochester, Michigan public schools. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Lorna traveled extensively. She went to South America and Alaska with the tour group Nomads. She purchased an RV and dubbed it "Gypsy" and traveled to many places in the U.S. even as far as California. In her later years, Lorna lived in Rochester Hills, Michigan with a succession of her beloved Samoyed dogs. She moved to North Carolina near her son Joseph in 2003 and in 2008 moved to California near her son Douglas who had become her trustee. Lorna died peacefully at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. She is survived by her loving sons Joseph (Yin) and Douglas, grandchildren David (Liz) and Elizabeth and great grandson Michael. Private family remembrances will be observed.