Clear, 71° F
(July 26, 2002)
Funeral services for former Willwood homesteader Laurena T. Land, 91, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Southern Baptist Church in Powell. Burial will follow in Crown Hill Cemetery.
Laurena died July 26 at her son's home on the Willwood homestead.
She was born Nov. 17, 1910 in Litchfield, Neb., to Charles and Lennie Dorman. On Sept. 26, 1928, she married Loyd T. Land of Litchfield, where they resided until their move to the Big Horn Basin in the fall of 1934.
The irrigated farmland of the Powell valley drew the Nebraska dry land farmers to their homestead site on the Willwood southeast of town. All of their farm animals, equipment and furniture arrived by emigrant railroad car as they drove their Model T with $20 in their pockets to last the winter. Times were tough at first, but Powell was to be their home until their deaths.
Laurena will be remembered for her faithfulness to the Lord, commitment to church missions and love of flowers.
Survivors include daughter Verla Mangun and husband Ted of Belgrade, Mont.; son Dorman Land and wife Sharon of Powell; daughter Evelyn Schneckloth and husband Roy of Rohnert Park, Calif.; brother Duane Dorman and wife Beulah of Powell; daughter-in-law Wilma Land of Sanger, Calif.; and sister-in-law Anne Dorman of Powell; 12 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband Loyd, in 1972, brother Lewis Dorman and sister Wilma Hall, and in March 2002, son Lloyd Eldon Land.
Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be made to Powell Valley Hospice or First Southern Baptist Church.
