Nora Lovona Lumsden

Rev. Nora Lovona Lumsden, 94 year old Yreka resident, went to be with the Lord on December 30, 2012. Nora was born in Fresno to the late Robert Wilson Foster and Elsie Elizabeth Rice Foster. She began working in the orchards at a very young age and the day she turned 12 and was legally allowed to work in the cannery she began to work there. Although she held jobs in the fields and canneries her true calling was to God and the ministry. Nora began preaching to the neighborhood children at age 11 and pastored her first church at the age of 19. She married her one and only true love, Clarence Baird Lumsden, in Yuma, Arizona on January 11, 1939. Together, they pastored churches in Missouri, Illinois, Arizona and California. Although her true love went to be with the Lord in March of 1972, she remained true to him and to God. She never remarried and continued ministering throughout her life. Nora preached, did missionary work in Mexico, ministered to people on the streets, and when she was unable to leave her home she ministered to others from there. Her life has been dedicated to the Lord, always giving to others and putting them before herself. She loved unconditionally and would give her last dollar to help someone in need. She always had a smile and a kind word for anyone she met. Those that others looked down on she lifted up with an encouraging word, a beautiful smile, or a caring hug. Nora was an amazing woman of God. Nora was one of six children and was preceded in death by three brothers, Johnny Laquency, Melvin Foster and Robert Foster as well as her two sisters, Nancy Slaughter and Ruth Wall. She was also preceded in death by her daughter, Nora DeRose, who went to be with the Lord on November 28, 2011. Nora is survived by and will be greatly missed by one son, Gerald Lumsden of Washington State; three daughters and their spouses, Melba and Jack Wolfe, Nancy and Mike Finney of Yreka; Virginia and Ray Condit of Hornbrook; son-in-law Brice DeRose of Yreka; eleven grandchildren, Jerry Lumsden of North Carolina; Michael Lumsden of Washington State; Dan Reeser of Medford, Oregon; Norman Lukehart, Janice Young, Nancy Thompson, Curt Condit, Windy Marshall, Michelle Garcia of Yreka; Cheryl Wainscott of Grenada; Jennifer Manriquez of Redding; 32 great grandchildren and five great great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 11:00 AM at the Life Foursquare Church, 900 North Street in Yreka. Interment was in Evergreen Cemetery.

Nora Lovona Lumsden

June 5, 1918 - December 30, 2012