She was born just days before the Armistice was signed to end World War I.
She was known as a caring teacher, community organizer and champion fundraiser for many Geauga County causes.
And, although she and her husband never had biological children, generations of Geauga residents remember Loretta Mae Hausmann Holmes as a loving, caring mother figure to thousands over eight decades.
Holmes died peacefully on Sunday, March 1, surrounded by her closest friends, at the Residence of Chardon. She was 96.
Her countless accomplishments cannot be contained in one newspaper article. She and her husband, Harold (“Bill” to most people) were, among many other things, the driving forces behind the development of the Geauga County Maple Festival, the Geauga County Department on Aging, the Chardon chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Geauga Chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Claridon Congregational Church’s annual Harvest Dinner, the Geauga County Library Association, the Geauga County Panhellenic Association and Metzenbaum Center in Chester Township.
She also organized the donation of the carillon to the Geauga County Courthouse and another one to her church.
In addition, she established several endowed scholarships at Kent State University for local students, especially those wanting to go into teaching.
“She gave many things anonymously over the years,” said longtime friend Sally Bell, former director of the county department on aging. “We’ll never know the full extent of her generosity to our county.”
Added Bell, “She has no family left, since she and Harold had no children, but she leaves behind many, many, many friends. The whole Geauga County community loved her.”
“We were all her kids,” said close friend Karen Stone. “She was one of those people who treat everyone as family.”
Loretta Mae Hausmann was born on Oct. 30, 1918, in Mayfield Heights. But the family moved to Huntsburg Township when she was an infant, according to close friend Beth Hofstetter Croup, who was with Holmes when she died, and who wrote down her biographical information at Holmes’ request.
“Her father was a blacksmith and when Loretta was a girl she worked every morning before school on another farm, milking cows and feeding chickens,” Croup said. “We clocked the distance and found out she walked seven miles to get there, unless she was lucky enough to time it just right and meet the mail truck. Sometimes he’d take her there.”
She graduated from Huntsburg High School and became a teacher in the school she had attended.
“She was my fourth-grade teacher,” Croup recalled. “She was an excellent teacher and many of her students made a point of keeping in touch with her over the years. She taught junior high at Huntsburg — and taught baseball. She was a great baseball fan.”
She also played guard on the all-county women’s basketball team.
Croup said Holmes was very proud of her involvement in sports.
Holmes taught in Kirtland, Willoughby Hills and Chardon before her marriage to Harold in 1941.
“There was a rule at that time against married women teaching, so she had to leave her job and work in an office for awhile,” Croup said. “But she went back to Kent State and got a master’s degree in special education and taught that in Cleveland Heights for 22 years.”
Holmes’ brother Harold had special needs and, according to Croup, Holmes took care of him and was inspired to help those with special needs. That led to her involvement with special education and the Metzenbaum Center.
She had a lifelong interest in developing her talents and using them to help others when she saw a need, Croup explained.
In 1945, she and Harold founded the Chardon VFW post that bears his name. Two years later, she started the Geauga branch of the American Cancer Society.
“She had tremendous organizational skills,” Croup explained. “She organized successful fundraisers and hosted many dinners.”
“She was certainly the backbone of the ACS,” said Donna Lang, who headed the Geauga/Lake/Ashtabula chapters of the American Cancer Society from 1978 to 1998.
“I met Loretta years before, when I was a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, and when I became the executive director, I was fortunate enough to work with Loretta,” Lang wrote from her home in Florida.
“There was never a time when Loretta said no to my requests. Loretta chaired the Door-to-Door fund along with so many other events, including the American Cancer Society Ball,” Lang said. “She was certainly the backbone of the ACS, working tirelessly day and night.”
Lang recalled seeing Holmes’ dining room table loaded with projects she was working on simultaneously for other organizations and her church.
“I was amazed that she could juggle all of the events at one time and complete each one with unbelievable results,” she wrote.
Holmes and her husband were also very active in the Maple Festival and organized an annual dinner for Geauga residents over 90 years old or married for more than 75 years.
The dinner, held each year in conjunction with the Maple Festival, has been named the Loretta Mae Holmes Senior Celebration in her honor. She was named Geauga Senior Citizen of the Year in 2000.
In 2005, Holmes was asked to be grand marshall of the Maple Festival parade.
“Although she was 85, she was delighted, and insisted on riding on the back of the convertible,” Croup recalled.
Holmes rode in the Saturday parade, but a sudden snowstorm early that Sunday morning caused many of the festival tents to cave in, and the Sunday parade and other festival events were cancelled. Loretta was disappointed that she was not able to ride in the second parade, Croup said.
After Harold’s death several years ago, Loretta continued to be as active as possible, living in the home they had built together until about three years ago, Croup said.
“She was still driving, but she decided to stay at the Residence of Chardon just for the winter, so she could take Geauga Transit to the senior center so she could volunteer,” Croup said. “But unfortunately she became ill and had to remain there.”
Croup said a group of her closest friends, including herself, Anne Morgan, Linda Rose and Ken Engle, would visit her regularly to play cards, especially bridge. Most of them were with her when she died.
A memorial service honoring her life will be held on Saturday, May 16 at 11 a.m. at the Claridon Congregational Church, where Holmes was a lifelong member.
“She was dear lady who touched so many lives, many of them unaware of what she did for them,” Bell said.
“She had a vested interest in disabled people, in young people, in the military, in our veterans, in our seniors and all of our industries in Geauga County,” added Bell. “She used the gifts God gave her for the good of others. She truly was a gift.”