Dawn Marie Vorhies
March 5, 1945 – Augusts 17, 2019

March 5, 1945 began the temporary journey through this thing we call life for Dawn Marie Vorhies. She was born to Ramona Hunt and Lester Vorhies in Binghamton, New York. She had a sister, Donna Boyer, whom she said she didn’t get along with and really didn’t want her mentioned. She might be little ticked off at me for mentioning her, but I figure the worst she can do is haunt me and like I told her a million times, I ain’t scared! Dawn grew up with a bonus dad, Mr. Selden Buckland and became rather upset with her sister when she discovered that Donna didn’t mention her in his obituary.  Dawn could be a real winch if you got on her bad side but from the sounds of it, she came by it honest and it ran in the family. She would laughingly agree.

At the age of 19, Dawn married Gerald Ross and together they had a daughter, Kimberly Ann. Kimberly was born December 9, 1964 in Tacoma, Washington. After Kimberly’s birth they moved to California and bought a home. At some point while Kimberly was very young, Dawn lost contact with her and although attempts to locate her failed, she never stopped loving her or thinking of her. Kimberly, if you should happen to ever read this please contact one of the family/framily members listed below should you desire to know more about your mother or the family/framily she leaves behind that would like to know you.

Dawn married again and had 2 sons, Shawn Lorenc (Stephanie) and CJ Lorenc (Alison). Again, life dealt her a hand that crushed her and while the boys were young she split with their father. She made the most loving decision she knew how to and left them in his care due to her financial inability to properly care for them. She didn’t talk much about her children to those who weren’t close to her and even to those she did, she remained somewhat guarded. I once asked her why and her response was because she was afraid they would hate her for choices she felt were beyond her control and she loved them enough to stay away. She said that they were her treasure that she kept in her heart. When she was diagnosed with cancer last year, I knew it was time to put my investigator hat on and find them. I knew a mother’s prayer (Dawn’s) was answered the day I found Shawn and CJ through social media and they both said they wanted to talk to her, but she didn’t know it yet. I will never forget the day I told her that I found her boys and they wanted to talk to her and how she looked at me. Through tears and the cuss words she basically told me she loved me but she was scared as hell that she would fail them again. I immediately started showing her pictures and telling her about them and you could see a twinkle in her eyes I never recalled seeing before.  She was elated to know that Justin, Damian and Noah Lorenc (Shawn’s boys) along with Casey Lorenc (CJ’s Son) and Keller Lorenc (CJ’s daughter) made her a Grandmother. From that point forward, there weren’t many people that she didn’t tell about her children and grandchildren. One of the last visits I had with her she told me that one of the greatest moments in her life was hearing both of her boy’s voices again.

After moving to Texas, Dawn decided she wanted to become a beautician. She attended and graduated from Charles & Sue’s School of Hair Design in Bryan, Texas. Dawn worked for several salons in Bryan/College Station including, Ms. Mallie & Company which is where she met her “chosen” sister, Donna Yates-Gannaway (Donnie). There is this saying that you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends; well around here we have come to understand that you CAN choose your friends to become family and we call that FRAMILY, hence “chosen” Donna being the chosen sister instead of the unchosen but still sister that Dawn didn’t get along with, Donna. After Ms. Mallie retired, Dawn went to work for and eventually retired from Ag Sports Cuts. She loved her customers and she loved doing hair but in my opinion her true gift was her creative ability to draw, paint, hand bead animal skulls, make shadowboxes, jewelry, you name it and she could do it. She loved to decorate for every holiday and her creative eye was beyond amazing. If you ever saw an older lady on side of the road with a trash bag picking up roadkill, it was probably her or the chosen sister, Donna who had been talked into doing it for Dawn because she was either wanting to bury because she felt sorry for it or try to salvage the skull so she could bead it. Oh the deep guttural laughs I can hear of her when we talked about this so many times before.

I know my “chosen” Aunt Dawn so well that I looked at my mom, Donna (the “chosen” sister) and reminded her that Dawn made it to the Rainbow Bridge before either of us did and she is gloating in the fact that not only her furbabies, Peaches Marie, Mogwhy and Paco met her there but that ours did too. Cain, Brookie Cookie, Jack, Evie Marie, Sunnie T, Bennie Beason, Pearly Girl, Moonie, Lucky, Buck and our feathered kids, Smokie & Floyd allllllll loved to be spoiled by her and I know were happy to see her when she met them Saturday, August 17, 2019 as her eternal life began.

Dawn will be thought of often and missed by her FAMILY / FRAMILY – Amanda Yates (the FAVORITE chosen niece), Lawrence Kerr (chosen nephew), Alyssa Ross (chosen niece unless they were arguing over watching football or Meerkat Manor) Baxter Wagener (chosen nephew) and Best/Sister/Friends, Deborah Waskow and LaRita Fickey. Dawn asked that there be no formal services and that her obituary be non-traditional. She also requested that when she passed that her window be open so that her soul could leave so THANK YOU to her nurse at Legacy Nursing Home for taking care of that for her.  She would also want me to say THANK YOU to her neighbors on Byers Street in Madisonville (especially Richard) for your friendship, company and help and to each and every client she ever had the honor of cutting their hair, THANK YOU. If you would like to honor Dawn’s memory please do so by making a donation in her name to the non-profit, animal rescue organization of your choosing. She sure loved the puppy doggies!!!

The last conversation I had with my Aunt Dawn, I asked her if she knew where she would spend eternity? She replied, “Yes, Heaven”. I asked her how was she so sure? She replied, “because I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to be my Lord”.  She may be absent from her body but she is now with Christ therefore we do not say Good Bye; we say See You Later. We love you and will miss you but we will see you again!