Longtime Beaver Falls resident filled life with song, laughter

Lorraine Funkhouser woke her children each morning with singing.

Often, the chosen tune would be nothing in particular — whatever was on the radio. Other times, she’d break out one of her favorites, “You Are My Sunshine.”

“We could hear her downstairs getting breakfast ready,” said her daughter, Linda French. “That’s just the type of person she was. She was so giving. Never judgmental. Just wonderful.”

It’s memories like those that are making the longtime Beaver Falls resident’s family happy amid sadness about her death from complications of COVID-19 on May 28 in Suffolk, Va. She was 89.

Born in Wellsburg, W.Va., Ms. Funkhouser was the second of four children and the only daughter of Oscar Lee and Okla Mae Denbow. Faith was a priority in their home and became a foundation of Ms. Funkhouser’s life from an early age.

So, too, did her husband, Howard Funkhouser, whom she met at a youth conference as a teenager. They married in 1949 and had two children, Ms. French and son Paul Funkhouser Sr. They laid down roots in Beaver Falls and lived there for 45 years.

Ms. French said their home became the place neighborhood children would often hang out.

Along the way, Ms. Funkhouser held a few different jobs, working in a bakery and a lunch counter before taking up her favorite gig with laundry services at Beaver County Medical Center, now known as Heritage Valley Beaver.

Her husband’s declining health prompted the couple to move in with Ms. French’s family at their Suffolk home in 2002. She remained there through her husband’s 2007 death, but eventually advancing dementia prompted her transition to Autumn Care of Suffolk a couple of years ago.

That facility was one of the many across the country to suffer outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ms. Funkhouser eventually required hospitalization.

Once there, she tested negative for the virus. Resulting complications at her advanced age, however, proved to be too numerous.

That negative test allowed her to leave isolation, giving her family the chance to gather and say goodbye.

“While she was laying in the ICU and fading out, [Ms. French] returned the favor and sang ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ ” said Rick French, Linda’s husband.

At that late stage, Ms. Funkhouser wasn’t responding much. Still … “I know she heard me,” Ms. French said.