Lorna R. DeVries, 56, of Windham, NH, and formerly of Ringwood, NJ died Friday January 21, 2011 at Aurora Senior Living of Derry, after a long battle with Atypical Parkinson’s Disease.
Ms. DeVries was born on February 5, 1954 in Melrose, MA, the daughter of George B. and Pauline S. Reagan. She was raised and educated in Los Angeles, CA prior to moving back east. She resided in Ringwood, NJ for 29 years, where she raised her family. She later moved to Gloucester, MA, and has resided most recently in Windham.
She was an honor graduate of Salem State College, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She also was a Blue Ribbon graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, where she later taught cooking. After graduating from culinary school, Ms. DeVries went on to study French cooking with Simone Beck, outside of Paris. She also worked as a chef for Gourmet Magazine. Even after her diagnosis, she pursued her Master’s Degree online with the University of Phoenix.
Lorna was an accomplished artist, who enjoyed many mediums, including stained glass, and pottery. Her greatest love was for portrait painting, for which she had won several awards. She was also the founder and president of NH Art Farms, Inc. a non-profit organization designed to teach art to the disabled.
She is survived by her mother and adoptive father Pauline Tomer and Donald Thayer of Windham, NH, a daughter and her husband, Nicole and Jason Heymer of Budd Lake, NJ, a daughter Erin DeVries of Hewitt, NJ, and a son Alec DeVries of Ringwood, NJ., one grandchild, Orion Heymer, a brother and his wife, Bartlett B. and Jeralyn Shattuck of Winslow, ME, and her ex-husband Paul D. DeVries of Ringwood, NJ.
She was predeceased by her fiancée, Scott H. Taylor of Exeter in 2009.
Private services are being planned by the family.