Lorraine E. Mchugh

Lorraine Ella McHugh, age 93, passed away peacefully on December 20, 2020 at home in Maumee Ohio surrounded by her family and her caring aides the family affectionately called “The Team”. Wife of V. Kenneth (Ken) McHugh for over 67 years, Lorraine was known as Lori to family, friends, coworkers and long-time clients. Born in Reed City, Michigan to Dr. Reuben B. Rath and Lillian H. (Gerhardt) Rath, the family later moved to Detroit, Michigan where she grew up across the street from her future husband, Ken. Before marrying Ken, Lorraine attended the University of Michigan as an intern with Detroit Edison. She then moved to start her life-long career in the global travel industry in Chicago with Trans World Airlines. For several years her future husband commuted by train on the weekends to Chicago where they eventually married and moved to Detroit and raised four boys. The family then relocated to Sylvania Ohio in the middle 1960’s, and, then to Maumee, Ohio where they remained to this day. Lorraine resumed her travel career in travel in the late 1960’s, becoming a worldwide travel agent for several agencies in Toledo, finally settling in for a long-term career with AAA Global Travel of Toledo. As a travel agent she travelled the world with her husband and groups, inspiring her sons to follow her lead in travel adventure. Lorraine’s love of travel motivated her to work well into her 70’s before retiring. She diligently documented her adventures with pictures and mementos all memorialized in extensive photo albums. She also researched the genealogy and history of the four families (McHugh, Rath, Gearhart, Barrett) that comprise her ancestry. She documented this research in albums of pictures and letters preserving the history of the family lineage back to the 1800’s. These albums provided endless hours of memories for her and Ken. Lorraine capped off a lifetime of adventure and achievement by returning to school at Lourdes College in Sylvania where she graduated with honors in her late 70’s obtaining degrees in art history and philosophy. Lorraine’s love and appreciation for classical music is best exemplified using her own words from a journal that was recently discovered “…one excerpt was a beautiful strain from Mahler’s Symphony #1, unmistakable to me and the music seemed to come in “waves”, like my emotions. I was overwhelmed by its beauty, very Austrian sounding in melody and time. Why? Some other music has no particular effect, then “wham!” – this rather ordinary work just tears me to the core. So strange!” Lorraine is survived by husband Kenneth, his brother Tom and wife Diane McHugh, sons, John, Jeff and his wife Robin, granddaughters Megan and her husband Jimmy, Jessica and Elizabeth, son Jim, his wife Kristina and grandsons Cameron and Austin, and the youngest son Robert. The family wishes to extend a special thank you to The Team, the group of health care professionals, friends and now extended members of the McHugh family who helped create and sustain a very high quality of happy life in her final months - thank you. Lorraine was laid to rest with her parents at Woodland Cemetery in Reed City, Michigan. Condolences and fond memories are encouraged to be shared on Lorraine’s Tribute Wall on this page.