Lorraine E. Rutter

Lorraine E. Rutter of Wyomissing lived a good, long life -- thanks, possibly, to onions.

She came down with pneumonia at around age 3. "I was not expected to live," she often remembered. Then her mom, Rose (Finell) Eilenberger, and a neighbor stuck an onion plaster to her chest.

She luckily was able to relish in that tale for the next 92 years -- but she never again relished onions.

Lorraine, who died at 95 on January 24, 2024, was born in Wind Gap, PA, and grew up in Wind Gap and Pen Argyl during the Great Depression. "We were poor but we didn't know it because we had plenty of food and clothes and good homes," she once said.

But her prize possession was a pair of brown hockey skates. She'd lace them up and glide across frozen ponds with her "natural ice skater" dad, Walter L. Eilenberger.

"I loved the ice skating and I decided that I was going to always ice skate and I went to all the Sonja Henie movies," Lorraine said.

Graduated from Pen Argyl Area High School in 1946, she earned a chemistry degree from Penn State, where she proudly played clarinet in the Blue Band. She worked as a medical lab technician for the former Western Electric Co. in Allentown.

She went right on skating until, one snowy night at the Albeth Ice Rink, she and a girlfriend were hurrying to catch a bus home. Someone said, "Oh, don't worry about the bus. Vance Rutter lives out that way; ask him for a ride." The women scrunched into Vance's book-strewn car. He happened to be a Western Electric/Bell Labs engineer. Lorraine happened to have drawn his blood for a physical. He didn't remember her.

His memory improved the next time they skated. They were married 56 years, until he died in 2010.

Lorraine and Vance E. "Van" Rutter moved to Wyomissing in 1963 and lived there the rest of their lives. They ice danced for many years. They passed the skating torch to their daughter before taking up ballroom dancing, winning many new friends and dance awards.

Lorraine had a celebrated artist's eye. She painted gorgeous Currier and Ives-like oils, and she was a flower arranger and seamstress who made some of her own clothes.

She and Vance were fortunate to have explored the United States, Mexico and Europe.

She cracked jokes joyously and cooked adventurously. "I have a bodacious idea" about a new dish, she'd say (though never one including onions).

She was a dedicated Meals on Wheels volunteer and a woman of strong faith. Most recently she belonged to St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church.

Lorraine loved children and dogs, especially her Sheltie, Alfie. Nothing brought her more happiness than family.

She was a tirelessly devoted and beautiful, beloved wife, mother and oma. She is survived by her children, Jon P. Rutter, of Lancaster, and Rosalie Rutter Snyder, M.D., wife of Kerry D. Snyder, of Orefield, and her grandchildren, Delaney R. Snyder, wife of Talbot Armstrong, of Virginia, and Donovan A. Snyder, husband of Lydia Warters, of Massachusetts.

A funeral service will be held Monday, January 29, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. at Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, 739 Penn Avenue, West Reading. Friends and family will be received at the funeral home from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Burial will be held at 3 p.m. at Fairview Cemetery, Pen Argyl.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund, 34 Washington St., Suite 310 Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 (Curealz.org)

Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home is honored to serve the Rutter family. Condolences may be written at www.KuhnFuneralHomes.com.