Centenarian had a long and varied teaching career

5/29/2003

NAPOLEON - Lorena Drewes, a teacher for 42 years who began her career in Henry County, died Tuesday at the Northcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She was 100. Family members did not know her cause of death.

Born into a family of seven brothers and a sister on a farm near Napoleon, Miss Drewes graduated in 1920 from Napoleon High School.

She obtained a teaching certificate a year later from the former Bowling Green Normal College, then taught three years at Okolona area schools, beginning in a one-room school house.

She returned to Bowling Green to complete her education diploma in 1925. On the advice of her brother, Miss Drewes eventually accepted teaching assignments in central Ohio, finishing her career in Dayton.

“She had an older brother in the school business,” Erna Drewes, her sister said. “He told her she was worth more than she was earning so that was how she got to central Ohio.”

In 1947 she earned a bachelor' degree in education from Ohio State University. For many years, Miss Drewes taught agriculture conservation classes, encouraging students to plant trees.

After retiring in the late 1960s, she returned to Napoleon where she volunteered for numerous organizations, including nursing homes, a hospital, and homes for the handicapped.

In her spare time, she enjoyed reading, knitting, and crocheting.

Surviving is a sister, Erna Drewes.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today in the Snyder-Wesche Funeral Home, where the body will be two hours before the service. The family requests that any tributes be to the Filling Home of Mercy, the Henry County Retired Teachers Association, or a charity of the donor's choice.