After graduating from high school, Lorraine spent two years on the farm, helping her parents. Her brother and sister were away at boarding school (the school was only 17 miles away, but since there were no school buses or transportation, the children stayed at the school during the week.) This was a time of great loneliness for Lorraine, as she wondered what was going to happen with her life. She was young, bright, and full of energy, but there was no money to send her to college. Everything changed in the summer of 1940, when Lorraine's rich Uncle Emil and Aunt Martha came to visit from San Francisco. Martha was her father's older sister, a businesswoman who had married a civil engineer. They had no children of their own, and lots of money to spend. They were so impressed with Lorraine and her sister Lillian that, after returning to San Francisco, they wrote to Lorraine's parents with an offer to send both girls to college at the University of California at Berkeley, all expenses paid. This was amazing news to the family from South Dakota, where even 17 miles was a long trip. San Francisco seemed like a world away!
Although this was an incredible offer, Lorraine's father was not impressed with his brother-in-law's values. Emil was an avowed atheist, claiming that the Sears Roebuck catalog was his Bible. Lorraine's father was sure that if his girls went to San Francisco, they would become like Emil and fall away from God.
	Well, Lorraine's mother prayed about this and received her answer in short order. It turned out that she had 'thrown out a fleece' to God, praying that if the girls were meant to go to San Francisco, there would be some information about a Free Methodist church in the city. The very next Sunday, their church's newletter posted a notice about a new church being started in San Francisco. For Lorraine's mother, this was all she needed to know. Although her father still protested hotly, he knew that he had to let his girls go. When he brought them to the train station to leave for San Francisco, he assured them both that if it didn't work out for them in the big city, he would find a way to get the money to bring them home.
So, off the girls went. This picture was taken shortly after they were in San Francisco. One of the first things that Aunt Martha did was to take the girls shopping. She bought them all kinds of wonderful clothing, shoes, dresses, and suits, the kinds of things that college girls wore. Imagine the feeling for these two girls. Their new life was such a sharp contrast to the depression and poverty of their farm life. It was as though they had stepped into a world that could have only been imagined in dreams in South Dakota. They missed their mom and dad, but life in San Francisco was wonderful. The girls were making new friends, going to church every Sunday, and attending classes. Lorraine wanted to major in nursing, but Uncle Emil had other ideas, calling nursing 'a dog's life'. So, Lorraine chose Home Economics instead.
	Lorraine was looking very fashionable. ith her major in Home Ec, she became an excellent seamstress and was able to make many of her own clothes as well as her daughters' clothes. Clothes were important to Lorraine, not out of ego or pride, but because she always remembered the pain of growing up without many clothes to wear. She always made sure her children were well-clothed and looked great, no matter how hard times were in days to come.
And so, in the spring of 1945, just a few months before the end of WWII, Lorraine graduated with a degree in Home Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Neither her parents nor her Uncle Emil and Aunt Martha were unable to attend the graduation ceremonies, but her two aunts from Sacramento were there, as well as her sister, Lillian. And for Lorraine, this was a dream, something that had seemed so out of reach just 6 years ago, when she was a young high school graduate on the farm. Here she was, in San Francisco, with a cap and gown on, holding a diploma. Lorraine never forgot her Aunt and Uncle, who had made this all possible. And she was a great influence on their lives, also. Just a few months after she started living with them in San Francisco, they began to attend church with her.
	A footnote to Lorraine's graduation -- due to the war, it was 'bring your own lunch' to the ceremonies.