Margaret ‘Lurene’ (Legge) Loofbourrow passed away Thursday afternoon, December 13, 2012, she was 95.
Lurene was one of our oldest family members and was born April 11, 1917 on a ranch near Groesbeck, Texas. Her youth occurred during the turbulence of World War I and the flu pandemic, followed by the Great Depression. As a teenager, her first job was for a newspaper in Corsicana, Texas. Later, she worked for Bethlehem Steel. At age 27, she married Alan Gerhardt. They enjoyed traveling together as part of his work as a time and motion specialist. He died suddenly two years later. Lurene moved to Midland, Texas, and worked in the booming oil business. It was there she met and on December 21st, 1951 married James Wade “Luke” Loofbourrow, a landman for Skelly Oil.
They moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they adopted their son, Joe, and their daughter, Mary. Later moves would take the family to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Houston, Duncan and back to Oklahoma City, where Lurene had a dedicated following for her tax preparation work at H&R Block. Lurene was a tireless mother and volunteer. She served as a Boy Scout den mother, a Girl Scout troop leader and a school volunteer. She was always available to help a friend in need. She loved baseball, especially the Cubs. She also enjoyed traveling, spending time with her family, watching golf and caring for her pets. She had a kind and gentle heart and a soft spot for children and animals. She made numerous trips overseas and was fascinated by different cultures.
In later years Lurene and James had a high interest in our Loofbourrow family history and genealogy and were instrumental in solving some of the missing connections to older generations. At one point, Lurene did a preliminary trace of our Loofbourrow ancestry back to 51BC.
Lurene is survived by her son, Joseph David Loofbourrow; daughter, Mary Claire Loofbourrow Anderson; son-in-law, Robert Anderson; brother, M.C. Legge, and sister-in-law, Doris Finch Legge. She was preceded in death by her husband, James “Luke” Loofbourrow (1919-1998); mother, Elsie Goolsby Hughes; father, Maylon Clifford Legge; and sister, Inez Legge Harrison (1914-1994); as well as her first husband, Alan Gerhardt. The family thanks her friends and neighbors, especially Kelly and Milly Davis, Gayl Leichner, Bill Buntz and Anjelica DeLeon, for their kindness.
She was the most pleasant of people to be around and had such a kind heart and seemed to always have good thoughts and remembrances of everyone. She will certainly be missed by all that had the good fortune of knowing her. Burial at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, OK. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mobile Meals of Oklahoma City, 6051 N Brookline, Ste 123, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
The photo of Lurene was taken in 2005 when Sequoia Snow and she posed for the camera.
Note from Ron:
I had the opportunity to reconnect with Lurene many years ago. As a very young child we had met at her and James’ home in New Mexico back in the late 50’s or early 60’s when my mom, sister, and I were traveling from California to Oklahoma on vacation. In 2005 and several times since I was fortunate enough to travel to Oklahoma and visit with Lurene where she would reminisce about people, places, events and especially about family history. She and James had a very nice collection of family photos and she shared these by allowing me to digitize and place in our Digital Loofbourrow Family Archive. During my visits, including my last visit in April 2012 to help celebrate her 95th birthday, and numerous phone conversations she also allowed me to record our conversations and I hope to share some excerpts from these in the near future.
Lurene loved traveling and it was one of her favorite topics. She had been to Europe and one of the first to China when it opened to tourists after the Mao revolution. She treasured her two kids and was very proud of both and always enjoyed getting updates on my family and our Loofbourrow family in general. She lived through some very interesting times and met some very interesting people and she always seemed to have such sharp and clear memories, even if it took a bit longer to remember things in this last year. Lurene was always so kind and generous and seemed to only have good things to say about people. I truly will miss her and I am very glad to have reconnected with her and spend the treasured moments we had in conversations.
