Loren S. Warren
_November 13, 1913 ~ August 31, 2007_
Former Chief Petty Officer USN Loren Warren went to meet his Lord on August 31, 2007 at San Louis Valley Medical Center, Alamosa, CO of natural causes. He had reached the age of 93.
Loren Warren was born on November 13, 1913 in Orange, CA at his family home on Pixley Street. He was born to Maude Harmon Warren and Silas Warren.
The family raised oranges and walnuts on a 40-acre farm. When Loren was 10 and his brother Kenneth was 12, they lost their father to pneumonia.
Loren and his brother helped their mother with the farm and also raised chickens and a very large garden.
Loren attended grade school and high school in Orange. When he was 16, he joined the CCC, (Civilian Conservation Corps) in Death Valley, CA. Here he learned building crafts, road and bridge trades, and also fire fighting. He was in the CCC’s until he was 25. In 1938 he returned to Orange, working for cousins and building houses.
In 1939 he met the love of his life, Louise Granath. They were married in 1942. Thirty days after getting married he joined the Navy and trained in San Diego, CA and Philadelphia, PA as a Water Tender on two different ships. He served the duration of World War II in Guadalcanal, Okinawa, South Pacific, Panama and other locations. He was discharged in 1945 as a First Class Petty Officer.
After the war he went to work for Union Carbide until 1976. He was a pressman and worked on broilers. He also served as a fire fighter for 40 years, of which 27 years was with the Uravan Fire Department. He was a member of the Uravan Community Church until the town closed. He then was a member of the Wayside Chapel in Gateway, CO.
Upon his retirement, he and his wife moved to Gateway where they had been working on a retirement home. He and Louise lived there until 1991 when his wife of 50 years passed away. He then moved to Grand Junction after the loss of his second wife, Mildred Warren.
He spent the last five months of his life at the Colorado Veterans Home in Homelake located in the San Louis Valley of Colorado. He had his own apartment and made friends with many WWII veterans and others.
His interests included reading books, going on outings, prospecting for precious ore, and restoring pianos. He collected and restored old pianos and especially enjoyed playing his Cable Nelson 1910 player piano with 100 rolls of music.
Preceding him in death are his parents, brother Kenneth Warren, wife Louise Warren, and wife Mildred Warren.
He is survived by daughter Anne (Arthur) LeMelle and grandson Robin LeMelle of Gateway, CO, sister-in-Law May Yeager of Nucla, CO, niece Margaret (Mona) Doyhenard, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Doyhenard, stepson Bob Hickox and family, nephew Keith Warren and family of San Juan Capistrano, CA, the Pat Warren family of Dove Creek, CO and Lake Powell, UT, and many cousins and a multitude of friends.
A memorial service will be announced at a future date in October to celebrate his life. It will be held at Wayside Chapel in Gateway followed by a potluck at Gateway Community Center.