Services for Lori Kortan, age 91, of Brookings, will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 12, 2016, at First United Methodist Church in Brookings. Interment will be held at later date at Black Hills National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the LaVerne and Lori Kortan Scholarship through the SDSU Foundation.

Loretta (Lori) Kortan was born August 3, 1924, at Dalzell, SD, the daughter of Paul and Mabel (Raetz) Wilburn. Lori passed away peacefully on March 7, 2016, surrounded by her family. She graduated from Rapid City High School and later that year met and married LaVerne (Korty) Kortan in Phoenix City, Alabama.

Lori returned to Rapid City, SD while Korty served in the Army Air Corps and was sent overseas with the 376 Bomb Group flying a B-24. After Korty's discharge from the service, they moved to Miller, SD where their three children were born:  Jan, Kandace, and Jim.

In 1952, Lori  moved to Brookings with her family, where she lived the rest of her life.  Lori always put her family first. She never missed an event her children were in and enjoyed every little milestone.  Lori worked as a research secretary at the Northern Grain Insect Research Laboratory. She was active in the First Methodist Church teaching Sunday School, volunteering in many church activities and doing whatever was asked of her. Lori was a member of American Legion and VFW Auxiliaries, extension club and three bridge clubs. She was an avid Twins baseball fan and loved SDSU sports. She and Korty enjoyed playing golf and dancing together with friends and family. Lori was an avid family historian, traveling to many states, the National Archives in Washington DC and the Mormon Library in Utah. The highlight of her travels was a trip to England with her daughters to continue researching her family history. Family history was a lifelong passion,

Lori is survived by her three children, Jan (Richard) Olson of Grand Forks, ND, Kandace (Dave) Ellis of Edina, MN, and Jim (Robyn) Kortan of Omaha, NE; six grandchildren, Dane Christensen, Bret Christensen, Nathan (Liz) Olson, Carrie (Jason) Ellis, Derek Ellis and Christopher Kortan, four great-grandchildren, Lucie and Ryan Ellis Kalgreen and Kellen and Palmer Olson, two sisters, Audrey (Leo) Hamm,and Alberta Crosswhite. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, two brothers and one sister.