Charlotte Quinn

Charlotte Quinn quietly passed away in her home at sunset on Monday, just three weeks shy of her 95th birthday.

Charlotte was very proud of her family history.  She often recalled interesting stories about her elders and loved to exhibit her mothers’ many beautiful works of embroidery.  Her mother, Henrietta Lagoni, born in Denmark and her father, Rudolph Loher, born in Austria, had both immigrated to the same neighborhood in Chicago, IL, which is where they met and married and where Charlotte was born July 17, 1923.  She often recalled her years as a young girl during the Great Depression and how little they had to eat.  That experience later inspired in her an appreciation for good food and a love of cooking nutritious meals for her family, which she credited to be much of the reason for her longevity and general good health.  She also became an avid gardener over the course of her life and grew many of her own vegetables in raised beds in her backyard right up until she was 90 years old when her health became more fragile.

Charlotte remembers 1948 as being the most exciting and adventurous year of her life.  Engaged to be married to Jim Quinn, Charlotte traveled alone by train to Seattle, Washington, where she and Jim had made plans to be married in St. Joseph’s Church after he had just completed his service as a Naval Officer during the Second World War.  After they were married, they traveled north to make their first home in Ketchikan, Alaska, where Jim worked for the U.S. Government Alaska Territorial Service before Alaska officially became a state in 1959.  After only one year they moved back to the Chicago area as Charlotte longed to be closer to her family and found that the rugged frontier life did not quite appeal to her. 

In 1964, her husband’s work relocated them to New Orleans, LA.  During their years in New Orleans, Charlotte became involved with various ladies groups and, having sketched and painted all of her life, again took up her painting, arts, and crafts with the New Orleans ladies as well as learned all facets of cooking their local cuisine, which Charlotte found fascinating and delicious.  Some years later, she decided to go back to school and enrolled in the local Delcado College (now a University) and found that she liked it very much and so enrolled with Louisiana State University in New Orleans.  She spent one memorable summer studying abroad in Europe where she was also able to visit her maternal relatives.  She fondly remembers visiting her cousin in Denmark who had beehives.  He gave Charlotte a beekeeping veil and let her help him tend his bees and operate the smoker as he divided a colony that was about to swarm.  He also treated her to the honey from his hives, which she remembers as being absolutely delicious. 

Every summer during their years in New Orleans, Charlotte and Jim would take their sons to Fort Walton, Florida, where Charlotte would spend time on the gulf with the boys while Jim commuted back and forth from his work in New Orleans.  They enjoyed the gulf so much so that they eventually moved to Panama City Beach in 1983 and there they enjoyed many good and satisfying years.  She always regarded their time there as very interesting with always something to do and never a dull moment as they had to survive many more intense hurricanes on the gulf than they had in New Orleans.

As they became older and as many of the family relations began to pass on, Charlotte and Jim longed to be close to family again.  In 1991, they purchased property in South Haven, MI, where they built a home close to Charlotte’s siblings’.  They really loved South Haven and became very active parishioners of St. Basil Catholic Church.  Before too long, Charlotte, being an avid reader, discovered the Scott Club of South Haven and enjoyed a long and active membership and for a time was an officer there.  Both Charlotte and Jim felt very fulfilled living in South Haven and never regretted moving back up north in spite of the cold winters.  Jim passed away in their home in 2006 and Charlotte carried on with her Church activities, Scott Club, and gardening.  Her last wish was to live out her life in their home as Jim had.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her sister, and one son.  She is survived by her sons and their families, her brother and his family, as well as her sister’s many children.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Friday, June 29, 2018 at the St.  Basil Catholic Church in South Haven. Funeral mass will follow visitation at 11:00 AM with Father Jim Morris and Deacon John Lohrstorfer officiating at the church.