Laura Lenehan Lorenson

My mom loved irreverent obituaries. She didn't understand why obituaries had to be so boring when the people behind them clearly weren't. She also *really* loved figure skating. On her last good day, she got to see a replay of Alysa Liu's gold-medal-winning performance; I’m grateful that that will be one of her last memories.

She detested all forms of exercise, so the following is more than a little ironic, but I think she'd like it.

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On March 14, 2026, Laura Lorenson landed her final triple axel — a performance 86 years in the making.

Born August 2, 1939, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Bernard and Genevieve Lenehan, Laura grew up in Bloomfield, NJ, before taking the ice on a much larger rink. She earned her BS in Communicative Disorders from Northwestern University and began her career as a speech pathologist in the Bristol Public Schools in 1961.

She stepped off the ice a few years later to do something far more demanding: she became the person who held everyone else together.

For decades, Laura poured herself into her community with the kind of energy that would have exhausted a team of Olympians. She served on the Boards of Directors of the Bristol Hospital Auxiliary, the Bristol Girls Club, the Bristol Women's College Club, the Women's Service Organization, and the Deep River Visiting Nurses Association. She served on the Parents' Committee for Student Enrichment at Wheeler Clinic, solicited for the United Way, drove for FISH (Friends in Service Here), delivered Meals on Wheels, and gave generously of her time to both the First Congregational Church of Bristol and the Deep River Congregational Church.

In 1984, she laced her skates back up, returning to the workforce as a research assistant in the neuroanatomy lab at the UCONN Medical Center. She went on to earn her MS in Speech Language Pathology from Southern Connecticut State University in 1989 and launched a second career as a speech language pathologist in the Portland, CT Public Schools at age 50. A comeback worthy of a standing ovation!

Off the ice, Laura was an exceptional choreographer: the one who designed the program, picked the music, and made sure everyone else got their moment to shine in the rink. She hosted countless book parties, bank parties, dinner parties, bridal showers, baby showers, family reunions, ski weekends, and beach gatherings. She somehow kept every circle intact, stayed in touch with friends from every chapter of her life, and remembered the names and whereabouts of her many, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. She would want to name every single one of them here. If we owned a newspaper, she would have insisted on it.

On July 7, 1962, Laura found her pairs partner for life in Edward Paul Lorenson. Sixty-three years of skating in sync — no small feat, and one that most of us only dream of.

Several beloved skaters reached the medal stand before her: her sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Tom Haffy; her brothers and sisters-in-law, Ralph and Joan Lorenson, Art and Wilma Lorenson, Fred and Carolyn Lorenson, Harold and Phoebe Lorenson, and Edie (Lorenson) and Bob Judd; and her son Jimmy Lorenson, who passed two years and 1 day before her, and whom she never stopped missing.

Still here on the ice, cheering her on and carrying her memory forward: her pairs partner and husband Ed Lorenson; her daughter Sue Lorenson and son-in-law David Watkins; and her grandsons Jack and Adam Watkins, whom she believed to be absolutely perfect.

They aren't. And neither was she. But she was exactly who we all needed her to be.

A celebration of Laura’s life will be held at the Deep River Congregational Church in Deep River, CT on Saturday, March 28 at 3 pm; if you would like to attend virtually, please visit deeprivercc.org for the livestream.

In lieu of flowers thrown on the ice, the family welcomes memorial donations to the Main Street Community Foundation Lorenson Fund (https://www.mainstreetfoundation.org/lorenson-fund) or the charitable organization of your choice.