Lorraine Eva Macke Kaiser 

Lorraine Eva Macke Kaiser lived a life focused on sharing her warmth and joy with others. Born on November 4, 1925, in Mildmay, a town of 900 in Southern Ontario farm country, she passed away peacefully in Venice, Florida, on January 4, 2026, two months after celebrating her 100th birthday. 

In her 99th year, Lorraine described herself as “just a small town girl” and looked back in awe and appreciation at the many ways her horizons had opened up and given her a lifetime of wonderful experiences and enduring friendships. 

Lorraine was an attentive and adoring wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend whose warmth, patience, curiosity and empathy made each of us feel special and cared for. Predeceased by her husband Ward Kaiser, the love of her life with whom she shared 75 remarkable, adventure-filled years, Lorraine is survived by their four children, Sue (Doug Welwood) of Toronto, Gary (Linda) of San Jose, Chris (Karen) of Dublin, Ohio, and Jackie (Doug Webber) of Toronto; seven cherished grandchildren (Andrew, Meryl, Kimberly, Kevin, Geneva, Anderson and Ella); her sister Floral Amy of Westerville, Ohio; and a devoted extended family. 

Lorraine graduated high school with honors, but there was only enough money in the family to send one child to university, and that privilege went to her older brother, Woodrow. At her father’s behest, she attended (and aced) business school, and then worked briefly in the office of Canada Life. But she had bigger aspirations. One Saturday, she and her friend Doris passed the Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital while out for a bike ride, and they dared each other to go in to inquire about their nursing training program; by the time they got back on their bikes, they had signed up. Her parents, Bill and Luella, were very surprised – and no doubt all the more surprised when her sister Floral soon followed in her footsteps. Lorraine would go on to earn the surgical nursing award in her graduating class of 1947, and to enjoy a long and distinguished career working in hospitals, in a family medical practice and as a school nurse. Her classmates from nurses training became her lifelong friends and she cherished their many reunion gatherings and connections over the years. 

After marrying in Mildmay in 1949 and living in Stratford and Milverton, Lorraine and Ward moved from Ontario to New Jersey in 1957 where Lorraine embraced a new set of experiences and became an engaged community member. Like Ward, she was endlessly curious about the world. Together they enjoyed all the advantages of being in the New York metropolitan area: theatre, concerts, museums, picnics in the park. And they seized any and all opportunities to travel, a passion they shared well into their retirement years when they began dividing their time between Beamsville, Ontario, and Orlando, Florida. During the final year of her life Lorraine took great pleasure in rereading her own careful diaries chronicling trips with friends and family, most frequently to Europe but also to Nigeria and Turkey.

An accomplished pianist who had been enlisted as a teen by her father, a baritone, to play the organ for his men’s chorus, she continued to play for many church services in her early married years in her role as a minister’s wife, and arranged for each of her children to take lessons (with mixed results). Lorraine appreciated beauty in all its forms, manifested in her lifelong love of art and music and in her collections of elephant figurines; Madonna depictions from around the world; natural ephemera such as foraged leaves, berries, and seedpods; and the many precious love letters she and Ward exchanged during their courtship. She always had a handwork project underway, from mending knee holes in her young sons’ pants to knitting winter sweaters and baby items, combining the practical with the artistic. Our family’s undisputed New York Times Sunday Crossword champion, she was a jovial if formidable opponent in Scrabble, Crokinole and Bananagrams. 

Lorraine was an avid reader of fiction and nonfiction into her 100th year, as well as an engaged follower of national and international news.  She was always eager to discuss what she was learning and thinking about with her family and wide circle of friends. Devoted to peace, justice and the well-being of others throughout her life, she found joy, pride and deep satisfaction in her personal connections, and expressed deep gratitude and boundless love for her family, friends and caregivers in her final days. 

Donations in her memory may be made to a charity of your choosing, or to Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres. Details of a celebration of life to follow.