Lorraine Rhea Jeffe

Lorraine Rhea Jeffe 84, of Oro Valley, Arizona, and formerly of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Scottsdale, Arizona, passed away on May 27, 2010, after a courageous 21 year battle with Parkinson's disease. Lorraine was born on February 24, 1926, in Fargo, North Dakota, where she spent her childhood. After graduating in 1947 graduate from Northwestern University, Lorraine became a social worker in Chicago. She moved to the Detroit area in 1950. In the 1980s, she returned to school and earned her master's degree in marriage and family counseling, and found work with underprivileged children to be especially rewarding. In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Lorraine was very active in a wide variety of organizations. Especially interested in the promotion of local, state and federal government improvements, Lorraine served as a board member of the Bloomfield Hills chapter of the League of Women Voters, and was a leader in advancing the Constitutional Convention that modernized the Michigan state constitution. Lorraine also worked on behalf of a variety of health, educational, and religious organizations, and served at one time as the president of the Birmingham Unitarian Church. During the last 20 years of her life, Lorraine was an indefatigable leader in the fight to find a cure for Parkinson's disease. A long-time board member of the Michigan Parkinson's Foundation, Lorraine received the prestigious Louis J. Fishman award for outstanding advocacy on behalf of Parkinson's. Senator Paul Wellstone and Representative Mark Udall made the presentation in Washington, D.C. Lorraine is survived by her husband of 61 years, Sidney; her son, Robert A. Jeffe of Greenwich, Connecticut and New York City; her daughter, Leslie A. Jeffe of Las Vegas and New York City; her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Jeffe; and her two grandchildren, Alison Walsh and Peter Jeffe. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial donations be made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Published in the Arizona Daily Star on May 31, 2010* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 26 2018, 22:57:46 UTC