Loretta Aileen Carlson Warren

December 6, 1942 - May 18, 2020

Loretta Aileen Carlson Warren passed-away May 18, 2020, at her home in Oregon City, OR following a long battle with carcinoid cancer. Her daughters Heather and Holly were by her side. Loretta was born December 6, 1942 in the small farming community of Eaton Colorado to John and F. Aileen Carlson. It was her upbringing on the family farm with brothers Chuck, Skip and Larry where her love for farming life, music, sports and cars grew. Loretta graduated from Gill High School in 1960. After her graduation at 17 years old, Loretta went to the big city of Chicago. There she attended Trinity College and Seminary of the Evangelical Free Church for 1 year. In August 1962, Loretta enrolled in the nursing program at Swedish Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis MN. In 1965, Loretta graduated from Swedish Hospital with her Diploma in Nursing. Loretta’s first job out of nursing school was on the labor/ delivery and newborn nursery floor of Weld County General Hospital. On December 29, 1965 Loretta married her high school sweetheart Fred J Warren. Despite being divorced in 1977, they remained steadfast friends and committed parents. Together Loretta and Fred raised their 2 daughters Heather and Holly in Northwest Denver. Although she loved her Grove Street house, her heart always belonged to her Northern Colorado family roots. Loretta would routinely make the one hour trek with her two girls in tow out to the Eaton Farm to see the Family. Some of her most cherished memories were times spent drinking coffee and eating Skorpa with her Grandma and other relatives. Singing church hymns with the whole family gathered for Christmas Eve Smorgasbord was something she truly loved. And even though she would complain about the smell, Loretta never shied away from eating the obligatory dose of Leutfisk. (If you close your eyes and are very quiet you can hear Loretta and her brothers and other relatives harmonizing to How Great Thou Art.) From 1972-1976 Loretta attended Metropolitan State College of Denver there she graduated Summa Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. During this time, Loretta started her own private therapy practice with a focus on domestic violence and abused women. In March of 1989 Loretta, along with two colleagues, began a nonprofit organization named “Esteem Inc.” Their mission was to provide educational, spiritual and emotional support to the gay and lesbian community of Denver during the height of the AIDS epidemic. From Esteem Inc. to her private practice of Consultants in Holistic Health and Healing, Loretta had a long and distinguished career as a therapist. Her focus was always on the total being of her client’s mental, physical and spiritual. On August 8, 2008, Loretta married her “finally found” soulmate Dr Aida Sahud. During their time together, Loretta and Aida bought a beautiful “farmhouse” in North Denver together. It was the perfect place for all of the children, grandchildren, friends or any other “lost wandering souls” to gather and spend quality loving time together. There you could usually find Loretta whipping up quadruple batches of Swedish pancakes for her grandchildren while hearing chorale music play throughout the house. The Perry St house also had the perfect garage to house Loretta’s “little car” aka Mercedes. In 2017, Loretta’s beloved Aida died, leaving Loretta widowed and lonely. And a year later, Loretta made the decision to move to Oregon to be closer to one of her daughters. One of the things that Loretta was most proud of (other than her grandchildren) was in receiving her Master’s in Spiritual Direction from the Holy Names University in California. From those efforts, Loretta produced a legacy of love. In 2011, “Gentle Hands. Gentle People” was published. Her intention and prayer in writing this book was to have individuals and society at large focus on gentleness. Loretta understood and promoted that gentleness is a powerful tool to use to change things for the betterment of society. Loretta would routinely give her book to people who were gentle to her or to those whom she thought could benefit from gentleness. Loretta was a nurse, a pioneer, a therapist, an advocate, a warrior, a humanitarian. She was a strong woman both mentally and physically. For Loretta to come out as a lesbian in the late 1970’s took extreme courage and strength. Her mental strength was equally matched by her physical strength, which she liked to demonstrate on the softball field. It was widely known that Loretta loved to playfully intimidate opposing batters with her “perfect” pitches. Loretta Aileen Carlson Warren was so many things to so many people: A sister. An aunt. A niece. A colleague. A mentor. A neighbor. A friend. A Mor-Mor. A Mom… No matter how you knew Loretta….Her loving, gentle Spirit will be missed. Loretta is preceded in death by her parents and older brother Chuck Carlson, one cousin, and numerous aunts and uncles. She is survived by her daughters, Heather Warren King and Holly Sharpe; Four grandchildren: Warren, Sara, Preston, and Sam. She is also survived by two brothers, Skip (Ida)Carlson, Larry (Stephanie) Carlson, an uncle, Kenneth Carlson, numerous cousins, and a host of cherished friends. A memorial service will be held in the Eaton, Co cemetery at 1pm, July 6, 2020. For information please contact Heather and Holly at [email protected] In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to NPR, the ACLU or the Swedish Heritage Center of Portland. Feel free to make a donation on Loretta’s behalf to any other organization she would appreciate. May God Bless you and may you always find strength in gentleness…