Loretta Helen West was born on September 16, 1938 to Raymond and Helen Hough of Treynor. She grew up in the small house the Houghs lived in on the farm of Bill Orr outside of Treynor. When she was old enough, she started babysitting the neighbor kids and her sister, Janet, and took this as a great responsibility, which carried on later in life.
 
Loretta attended Treynor High School. She graduated in 1957 as the class valedictorian. After high school, she moved into an apartment with a friend from school and started working at Council Bluffs Bank.
 
During this time, she was asked to go on a double date by one of her friends. She reluctantly went along, and her date was a young man from Missouri, Everett. After that first date, Loretta fell in love with Everett, and they were married on September 22, 1961.
 
Everett and Loretta moved to Omaha, first to a small house in north Omaha, and then decided to build a house in West Omaha. Starting up in a cornfield, the house was built in what is now Montclair. In the meantime, Loretta came to the Bank of Millard, and became their proofer. Back before the time of computers, Loretta was in charge of balancing the books of the tellers at night; sometimes having to stay very late to make sure all money was accounted for at the bank.
 
This all changed in February of 1968. Loretta had contacted the Nebraska Children’s Home, in order to adopt, and on February 10, 1968, Loretta and Everett adopted a one-month-old little boy, David. Loretta quit her job at the Bank of Millard, in order to care for her son full time.
 
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Loretta did just that, making a loving home for her husband and her son. Though some of David’s friends saw her as strict, he knew she was just protecting him from the world.
 
Loretta’s world was about to start to unravel, however. While cleaning the house in 1994, she got her leg caught between the chair and the sofa, falling and breaking her hip. It was at that time, after medical analysis, it was determined Loretta had osteoporosis.
 
Between 1994 and 2004, Loretta had three hip surgeries, and went from being 5’2” in height to 4’8”, due to compression fractures of her spine. She was in constant pain, something she had never been able to tolerate well.
 
In April of 2004, she had fallen and broken her good hip. Due to this, she was spending time in a nursing home rehabilitation center until June 17th. On that day, she suffered a brain hemorrhage, and on Wednesday, June 23rd at 8:00pm, she left this world to be reunited once again with her parents.
 
Loretta is survived by her loving husband of 43 years, Everett Leroy West; her son, David; and her sister, Janet Morgan. Any and all who knew her will miss her love.