Loris Jeanette Michael

The world forever changed on August 21, 1940, when Loris Jeanette Michael entered it on a kitchen table in Ansley, Nebraska and changed again on June 22, 2025, when Loris made her exit. Growing up in North Platte, Nebraska, as the second of six children, Loris nurtured a deeply-connected group of friends lovingly and jokingly known as “The Floozies.” “Lor-ass” (her name in Floozie vernacular) enjoyed their many reunions and they remained close throughout their lives. After graduating in 1958, Loris attended business college in Colorado then returned to Nebraska in 1962 to care for her younger siblings and critically ill mother. When her father remarried, Loris hit the road with a high school friend to move to San Francisco – a big adventure for a small-town girl from Nebraska. She met her first husband in 1964 on a blind date, and in the five years they were together they had three children (Anna, Lisa, & Dino). Loris was always amazing with young kids. She started a home daycare where she took care of seventeen children and still managed to keep everything perfectly neat and clean. In 1975 Loris relocated to Foster City, California, in search of a better public school system for her children. There, sunbathing by the community pool, she met her future husband Dick Michael and charmed this bachelor enough to pursue her even with her three rambunctious children splashing away. We’re still not sure whether it was her extreme beauty or her effervescent personality, but either way, a strong union was formed and Loris and Dick enjoyed a fifty-year relationship together – long committed even before Dick succumbed to “Social Suicide” in 1983 (Dick’s name for marriage). Loris worked as a legal secretary and later managed the Jewelry Mart and Gift Center in San Francisco, which housed over three hundred showrooms in a multi-story building that filled an entire city block. In the Bay Area, Loris gathered another group of amazing friends who became her California family. A sisterhood of strong and independent women, they supported each other, nurtured each other’s children, and remained incredibly loyal and loving to one-another. Confident and strong, Loris would give what she proudly called “bitch lessons” to the others, empowering them to advocate for themselves and not take any abuse at a time that was difficult for women in the workplace. Advocacy was a hallmark of her life and a thread in the fabric of the lives she touched. Along the way, Dick and Loris enjoyed vacations in Mexico, Hawaii, and Sandpoint, Idaho. Captivated by Bonner County, it became their dream to move there, and in 1980 they purchased property on which they would eventually build their dream home – big enough to host the family and friends they loved. They moved into their home on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille in 1999 and from that point forward, not a day would pass where one wouldn’t hear Loris say, “I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.” Upon moving to Sandpoint, Loris quickly started contributing as a community volunteer. Going above and beyond what was expected was second nature to Loris. As a kindergarten reader, she provided every student with at least five books; as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, she made sure the kids had ski passes, golf lessons, and all the equipment needed to support their activities; as a volunteer at the Senior Center, she not only served on the board as a general member, as VP, and as president, but she also wrote personalized thank you notes to every donor in appreciation of their contributions. She loved her many other communities – The United Methodist Church, the Golf Club, Hospice Volunteers, and the Community Assistance League. She hosted friends weekly to play Mah Jong, including people she had just met. She loved writing stories and contributed frequently to the local newspapers. Loris was honored to become a Woman of Wisdom in 2018. Loris faced immense challenges, battling cancer in 2005 and surviving a horrendous car crash in 2022. Yet, in the face of each challenge she remained optimistic. She was preceded in heaven by her mother Theda Newman, her father Irwin (Josh) Newman, her brothers Larry and Don, and some dearly loved friends who she missed daily. With each loss, her commitment to living her life to the fullest and shining the brightest only grew, and she fostered her many relationships with vigor. She welcomed strangers as friends and connected people to the very end. She is survived by her husband Dick Michael, her “three little darlings” Anna Fruehling, Lisa Papagni, and Dino Papagni; Anna’s husband Erich Fruehling; Dino’s wife Maiko Togami; grandchildren Jason (41), Jessie (39), Noah (27), Lisa (21), Michael (20), Eli (20), and Koa (2); her siblings Peggy, Leslie, and Linda; and a huge beloved extended family. Loris would be happy to know that she is missed dearly, and would request that we carry on with our lives by leading with the love, acceptance, and kindness that she so strongly exhibited.

A celebration of Loris’ life will be held at The United Methodist Church in Sandpoint on August 2, 2025 at 1pm, followed by a reception at the Sandpoint Senior Center. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations are made to the Sandpoint Senior Center in her memory.