Dolores Irene (Lutgring) Bork

TELL CITY -- Dolores Irene (Lutgring) Bork passed away peacefully at her home in Inyokern, California on May 20, 2022. She was born on Feb 10, 1922, the fourth daughter and fifth child of Leo Henry Lutgring and Frances Elizabeth (Ray) Lutgring. She grew up on their farm outside of Tell City, Indiana.

In Greek mythology, Irene is the goddess of peace. To many, our mother Irene was the embodiment of peace and patience. She was devoutly Catholic and faithful to her spiritual allies including, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, St. Jude, St. Anthony, St. Therese of Lisieux, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Irene was a 1939 graduate of Tell City high school. She wanted to become a nurse, but the tuition was too high. Instead, her older sister Margaret paid for Irene’s tuition at a secretarial business college in Louisville, KY. In 1941, Irene joined Margaret in Washington, D. C., where she secured a job in the wartime typing pool at the FBI. She shared a room in a rooming house with several girls, all of whom had to share one bathroom “down the hall.”

In 1942 she met U.S. Navy first class petty officer George Bork. They became engaged in 1943 and married February 8, 1945, when Irene was 22 years old. Between 1946 and 1957, six children followed.

In 1977, Irene returned to work as a secretary with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. She was an extremely proficient typist with timed achievements of more than 118 words per minute with zero corrections – on a high-tech electric typewriter. She retired from the government in 1986.

Irene was very artistic and creative. She was a self-taught musician, (accordion and piano) and later took classes for photography, oil painting, and stained glass. She taught herself counted cross stitch and finished dozens of projects that included baby blankets for many of her great-grandchildren.

Irene loved to travel and relished any adventure that meant getting into a car and “going somewhere.” Road trips for hiking, sight-seeing, visiting relatives, camping, and being with her children and grandchildren gave her the greatest joy! Irene was an avid reader. Her favorite genre was soft romances and western fictions that included authors like Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour. Her lifelong passions included reading, crossword and jigsaw puzzles and word-search puzzles. Irene reached her 100-year milestone on February 10, 2022.

During the last fifty years of her life, Irene made more than a thousand rosaries which she loved to give away. Following years of volunteer secretarial service to the St. Jude Parish in Wofford Heights, California, she was nominated for and awarded the prestigious Papal Benemeranti medal (issued by the office of Pope John Paul II). She was a member of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and believed to be the oldest living member at 100 years old when she passed.

Irene was preceded in death by her father, Leo Henry Lutgring, her mother Frances Elizabeth (Ray) Lutgring; infant sister Mary Lutgring; brothers Gilbert, Ray, and Sydney Lutgring; sisters Margaret Frazier, Geneva Gohmann, Dorothye LaGrange, and Bette Lutgring.

She lived her final months in her beloved upper Mojave Desert outside Inyokern, California. Irene is survived by two brothers, Alfred Lutgring of Indianapolis and Donald (Alma) Lutgring of Georgetown; six children, George Jr. (Carolyn) Bork, Gerald Bork, Theresa Goldstrand, Joseph (Dawn) Bork, Mary (Mark) Hanratty, and Stephan (Guinevere) Bork; 13 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.

Visitation and rosary for Irene will be held at Zoercher-Gillick Funeral Home, 920 10th Street, Tell City, Friday, June 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at Saint Mark Catholic Church Friday, June 10 at 1:00 p.m. followed by Christian burial at St. Mark Cemetery. A reception for the family and friends will immediately follow at the St. Mark School basement.

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