Lorna Rae (Ellgen) Pearce

Birth: October 9, 1947 | Died: May 1, 2026

Hiker, crafter, rafter, musician, traveler, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Lorna Rae (Ellgen) Pearce passed away in her home in Anaheim, California, Friday, 1 May 2026.

Born the eldest daughter of an eldest daughter and first of nine children, Lorna Rae was born to Lorence and Raeola Ellgen in Hayden, Colorado, 9 October 1947. Lorna loved her family deeply. She often expressed gratitude for her parents and the life they provided for their family. She is grateful to have been raised in a home where Jesus Christ was paramount. She and her siblings formed close and loving relationships, and she was always eager to visit them. Lorna graduated from Moffat County High School and attended Brigham Young University. While attending BYU, she met Richard Pearce, and they were married in the Manti, Utah Temple on 22 August 1969. After they completed their degrees (Mom graduated with a BA in Family Science), they moved to southern California where they raised their family.

Lorna was a great mother, managing the house and raising the children, attending sport, school and church activities, gardening, cooking, arranging, guiding, and comforting. She worked as an instructional aide at Katella High School and as a registrar at Brookhurst Junior High. It was sometimes difficult to get Mom to stop and relax, but every now and then she’d have a moment to play a game or watch a movie, showing her affection through her work and through her taking the time to be with her family. Mom sometimes shared her opinions ardently, but she was also ready to listen and help. Her children and grandchildren remember her as always up for a game of Nertz, an outing, or another O’Henry bar.

Mom was a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings and completed many service and musical projects. Her talent at playing the piano and organ often allowed her to play for various church services and meetings. For several years she sang in the East Anaheim Chorale, a special musical choir that performed at different church and community events. She also served in the local and regional Young Women’s leadership. Her most recent calling was teaching high school on-line seminary classes, an assignment to which she stayed devoted. She loved the youth. She felt passionate about wanting them to know they are children of God. She had the opportunity to attend several General Conferences in Salt Lake City, Utah, to work as a temple worker in the Vernal, Utah Temple, and to plan and attend church meetings and activities at nearly every level of church service.

She also loved to travel. In her last year alone she travelled to France, Spain, England, Nova Scotia, and the southern United States. She has been on countless hikes, rafting trips, and other adventures, and has traveled to Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Great Britain, France, Spain, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ukraine, Mongolia, China, and all over the United States. For her fiftieth birthday, she took a bicycle tour of New England. When her Chinese tour guide tried to dissuade her, she insisted she would camp on the Great Wall, from which she watched the sun dawn on the new day. Mom loved to see new places, but it seemed that what she liked best was to meet new people, visit with them, and listen to their stories and insights. She could strike up a conversation with the person in the next seat on the plane, the person at the next table in the café, the person sitting on a bench looking out at the sea.

Lorna was preceded in death by her husband, Richard, her parents (Lorence & Raeola), a sister (Beth), and is survived by her siblings (Maureen Rane, Barbara Webb, Gary Ellgen, David Ellgen, Ken Ellgen, Lynne Williamson, and Larry Ellgen) and her children, Jodi (Ray) Thompson, Jared (Jaime) Pearce, Laura (Chad) Elfver, and Brian (Gina) Pearce, fifteen grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters.

Special thanks to all the family, friends, and neighbors who have served our Mother and each of us so generously.

Lorna’s funeral will take place Saturday, 9 May, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 535 S. Rio Vista St, Anaheim, California, at 4:00 pm. She will be interred in the Craig cemetery, Craig, Colorado, Wednesday, 13 May, at 3:00 pm.

While flowers are welcome, Lorna would also appreciate being remembered via donations to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Humanitarian or Missionary funds.

https://donate.churchofjesuschrist.org/contribute/church/humanitarian-services/humanitarian-aid-fund?cde2=475