Remembering Lorraine Ettl
After visits with family and friends this Fall, Lorraine Ettl, retired librarian at the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, passed away peacefully on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, at Valley Memorial Home Woodside Village, Grand Forks with her grandson Michael by her side.
Lorraine was born on February 24th, 1925 in Lakota, North Dakota. Lorraine married Frederick Joseph Ettl and they had four children. She lived in Grand Forks starting in 1949 and resided in the same home on Belmont Road for over 50 years.
Lorraine graduated in June 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She received her Master’s degree in Library Science from UND shortly thereafter. She worked as a librarian at the UND School of Medicine’s Harley E. French Medical Library from 1970 to 1995.
As part of her work, Lorraine traveled thousands of miles to small rural communities and 36 Indian Health Service facilities throughout the Dakotas and Nebraska, where she trained 500 health care professionals and students to search medical databases using computers. Because of this important work, she was the 2nd recipient of the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award in 1995. This award was established to recognize outstanding service and contributions to rural and underserved communities by a practicing health sciences librarian. The award is presented annually by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine.
Lorraine retired from UND in 1995 as the library’s head of public services. After retiring from that position, Lorraine worked at the Altru Cancer Center Library for many years. She also worked at the Chester Fritz Library. She fully retired in 2012.
Lorraine loved books and read through the nights. She enjoyed making lefse with her family and also experimenting with many recipes. She loved to travel around the world including trips to Russia, France, Germany, Italy, and many trips to Asia.
Lorraine was preceded in death by her parents and her devoted son Rick, and her two brothers Bob and Tracy. Lorraine is survived by her children, Linda Waring, Minnesota, Paul Ettl (Imelda), Japan and Christine Ettl (Gary Mlynek) North Carolina. Lorraine is also survived by her grandchildren, Michael Ettl, Ryan Waring, Erina Waring, Erika Ettl and Mylo Ettl. Lorraine will be greatly missed by all her family and friends.
The family would like to thank Lorraine’s friends at UND, Altru and Woodside Village for their devotion and care.
As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be sent to the University of North Dakota Medical School, the UND Fred and Lorraine Ettl Family Scholarship Fund, the Lakota Library or a charity of your choice.
Memorial Services will be 5:30 PM Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in Amundson Funeral Home of Grand Forks. Visitation will be for the hour before the service in the funeral home.
