Lori Passman, 96, passed away in December. She was the fifth of five children born to Rose and Benjamin Gorelick in Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated from Central High School in Omaha, and then her story gets interesting.
On her own, she was able to receive a scholarship from the Kansas City Art Institute. Her father, who had little money and held old-world beliefs about the role of women, put his foot down and said, “No way.” So, a 17-year-old young woman who had never been out of Omaha made her own way to Kansas City to pursue an education in art. That must have taken a lot of courage, but that was her style.
One of her great passions was art, and she was a very talented artist. She could take a napkin from a table and sketch a drawing of you with great likeness. She continued to practice her art throughout her life.
She liked to tell a story about how she and a classmate went to the Baker Shoe Store in Kansas City in 1948 to look at shoes. There, a young, debonair shoe salesman — then called a “shoe dog” — waited on her. She told her classmate that the shoe salesman was the man she was going to marry. That man was Herb Passman, the love of her life, and they enjoyed many years together until his death in 1991.
Although she was small in stature, standing just under five feet tall, she had a big appetite for life and an even bigger heart.
She is preceded in death by her son Bruce Passman. She will be greatly missed by her sons Randy and Neal Passman; her daughter-in-law, Michele Passman; her grandchildren, Travis Passman, Erin Lawrence, Sara Olson, Rachel Passman, Dana Bakker and Kyle Passman; and her great-grandchildren, Elise, Abbey and Anna Lawrence, and Ezra and Oliver Olson.
She lived a very full and interesting life — one that touched many — and she will be deeply missed.
