Loretta Gascoigne, 89, formerly of Watertown, passed away Monday, May 25, 2015, at Brookings Hospital. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, May 29 at Wight, Comes and Sogn Funeral Chapel in Watertown. Pastor Chris Gorman will officiate. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Arrangements by Wight, Comes & Sogn Funeral Chapel. For more information go to www.wcsfc.com.
Interment will be at the Goodwin Cemetery, Goodwin. Pallbearers will be her eldest grandsons, Mark Baumann, David Gascoigne, Scott Dunham, Chad Gascoigne, Jessie Gascoigne, Nic Gascoigne and Jason Gascoigne.
Loretta was born May 20, 1926, to George and Alice (Schafer) Benshoof at Revillo. She was the eldest child and attended country school through age 14. She moved to Watertown to work and help raise her siblings.
Loretta married Ross Gascoigne on Nov. 20, 1948, in Watertown, after Ross was discharged from the Navy. Ross’s jobs took the couple to Sioux Falls in 1959, Volga in 1977, Estelline in 1988 and then retirement took them back to Watertown in 1990.
Even though Loretta and Ross had seven children, Loretta was a “mother” to many, and was always willing to help anyone who called her to their aid.
Ross passed away on Sept. 30, 2002. Loretta then moved to be with her daughter, Susan in Lyons, until 2011 and then spent the past four years with her daughter, Cheryl in Brookings.
Loved by her children, Sandra Jo Baumann of Hartford, Cheryl Lynn Gascoigne of Brookings, Susan Faye (Richard) Dunham of Charlotte, N.C., Steven Ross (Mary) Gascoigne of Sioux Falls, Michael Dean (Patty) Gascoigne of Burnsville, Minn., Shawn Lee Gascoigne of Brookings and Troy Alan (Michelle) Gascoigne of Zumbrota, Minn.; 16 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and her siblings, Betty Fieblekorn of Watertown, Joan Vaughn of Blachley, Ore., Eva Regnier of Watertown, Stuart Benshoof of Dell Rapids and Delores Rumpca of Minneapolis.
She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Alice Benshoof; her husband, Ross; her son-in-law, Don Baumann; and her brothers, Louis and Edward Benshoof.