Lorena Hawkins, 87

Lorena Hawkins was born Aug. 24, 1923. She passed away on Nov. 8, 2010.

Lorena had a fall on Wednesday, Nov. 3, and died from complications. She lived a very complete life and is now where she would want to reside for eternity, with Jesus Christ and many, many of her loved ones, especially her husband Ed.

Lorena was born the seventh of 11 children, Aug. 24, 1923, in a cabin on Lower Pack River in Bonner County, just down river from what is now the Pack River Store.

 She was the daughter of the Rev. Wallace Thad Taylor and Edith May Satterlee Taylor. Lorena’s father became an ordained Nazarene pastor during her childhood and founded the very first Nazarene Church in Sandpoint.

Though the Taylor family lived in a number of places due to church positions, they returned to Sandpoint in 1937 when Lorena was 14. She attended Sandpoint High School, where she was very involved as a cheerleader, a member of Leohono, drama, and band.

She met the love of her life, Ed Hawkins, at 14. He often said she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. They were best friends.

Ed and Lorena married on Nov. 15, 1941, with her father officiating. Ed then served in Japan during World War II.

When he returned the couple operated restaurants in Rudyard, Mont., Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, and Pullman, Wash., working side by side. Their dream was to return to Sandpoint, and they did that in 1956, with their four children.

They managed the Kaniksu restaurant from 1956 until 1958 when they purchased what was then Herschell’s Lighthouse in Hope, Idaho on Pend Oreille Lake. They renamed the restaurant the Litehouse. It was a place of memories for people who came for excellent food, service, friendships, family celebrations, and annual traditions.

Lorena, Ed, and their four children all worked in the restaurant together. Lorena, especially, kept the multiple mechanisms running smoothly. There was very little in which she did not have a hand. She also trained many a waitress in the classic styles of service and helped Ed administer many other aspects of running a quality restaurant.

Ed and Lorena also taught ball room dancing to interested Litehouse customers who then enjoyed dancing to live music on Friday and Saturday nights for many years of good wholesome community enjoyment.

They also organized and catered an annual horseback trail ride where as many as 200 riders enjoyed two days in the Cabinet or Selkirk mountains, and Ed and Lorena would feed hungry trail riders hearty meals from a chuck wagon.

Lorena and her husband began selling Ed’s own Litehouse salad dressings to customers and local markets as a way of helping to pay for college educations for all four of their children. It became a viable extra business and later successfully developed by their two sons, Doug and Edward Hawkins, Jr. It is now sold throughout the United States, in Canada, and parts of Mexico.

Lorena has been a woman of great Christian faith all of her life and raised her family with this faith and corresponding values. She and Ed were very involved in their church where Lorena was the church pianist.

She has been a matriarch in the truest sense, a rock in her family circle, and “grandma” to not only her 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, but also to many of their friends who all know her fondly as “grandma.” “Grandma” never, over decades, missed sending a hand picked card with a small gift to every family member for every birthday, Christmas, and anniversary.

Lorena Hawkins was a tremendous woman and she will be greatly missed.

Lorena was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Hawkins, on April 2, 1984. Several of her brother and sisters have also passed away.

She is survived by two sisters and one brother: Lucille Allen (Alfred-dec) of Spokane, Wash., Verna Lee Jackson (Frank) of Everett, Wash., and Wally Taylor (Doris) of Bellevue, Wash. Her children, all of Sandpoint are Doug Hawkins (Lodi), Diana Parsons (Gary B.), Claudia Parsons (Dwayne), and Edward Hawkins (Rebecca).

Her grandchildren are  Daren Parsons (Helen) of Sandpoint, Jodi Lunde (Steve) of Sandpoint, Corey Parsons (Katie) of Coeur d’Alene, Angela Shoolroy (Levi) of Athol, Mary Payne (Jeff) of Sagle, Doug Hawkins  Jr. of Sandpoint, John Hawkins (Katie) of Moscow, Sarah Nichols (Todd) of Sandpoint, Elizabeth Hawkins of Sandpoint, Christopher Hawkins of Moscow, Nicholas Hawkins of Moscow, Brandon Hawkins of Sandpoint, Ryan Carlson (Kim) of Boise, and Tami Ferrey (Jon) of Lake Oswego, Ore. There are many nieces and nephews in the Sandpoint area and throughout the United States.

Funeral services will be conducted 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010, at the First Christian Church, with Pastor Tony Nelson, officiating. Private interment will follow in Pinecrest Memorial Park.

A visitation will be held  at Coffelt Funeral Chapel Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010, from 2-4 p.m.

Family and friends are invited to sign Lorena’s online guestbook at www.coffeltfuneral.com.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Coffelt Funeral Service.