Alora May Spanne, beloved wife, sister, mother and grandmother, died peacefully in her sleep on October 11, 2006 at home on the ranch that her grandfather homesteaded in 1876.

Alora was born on June 18, 1918 in Santa Barbara, California, to Otto and Ada Erway Salzman. After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, she moved with her family to Lompoc. In 1939 she met and married Walter Anderson Spanne, her husband of 54 years. The couple raised four children at their Artesia Avenue home in the Lompoc Valley. In 1969, they returned to Alora's family ranch in San Pasqual Canyon, where they lived out the rest of their days.

She was a member of the Artesia Mothers Club, Sewing Club, Order of the Eastern Star, 4-H, the Lompoc Grange, the Lompoc Museum, and the Lompoc Valley Historical Society, where she served as secretary for many years.

Alora's home was always filled with laughter, music, flowers and delicious food. She loved to have her family gather around the large kitchen table for dinners and holidays. She was from a bygone era when friends and neighbors dropped in for an afternoon chat without phoning ahead, knowing they could always count on a warm welcome and pleasant conversation served up with a piece of Alora's incomparable pie. She was an avid gardener and she loved nature, whether riding horses in the Lompoc Hills or watching birds and deer outside her window. As a young woman, Alora was a talented singer and pianist. Throughout her life, she loved to play the piano for friends and family. She whistled her way through hard times, and sang the songs of her youth as she tidied her house and cared for her children and grandchildren.

Above all, Alora was a kind-hearted, generous person who loved her family. In high school, she had aspired to be a nurse. Although she never realized this ambition in a formal way, she spent her entire life comforting others. Her gentle eyes, warm smile and soft, enveloping hugs were instantly soothing to the sick and the troubled. She accepted people for who they were and saw the best in everyone. "Try not to become cynical about life," she once advised. And she never did. Her kindness, wisdom, patience and generosity will live on in the hearts of those who knew her, a quiet but powerful testimony to the goodness of humankind.

Alora Spanne is survived by her sister, Nancy Masterson (Richard) of Lompoc; children Laurence Spanne (Renae) of Kanab, Utah, James Spanne (Leslie), Andra Spanne-Rauh (George) and William Spanne (Sandra), all of Lompoc; grandchildren Michael Spanne, Lara Spanne-White, Krista Spanne-Hinson, Autumn Spanne, Laurel Spanne and Lili Rauh; 10 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and her brother, Marine Corps Sgt. Edward Earnest Salzman, who was killed in action on Guam in 1944.

Graveside services will be at the Evergreen Cemetery in Lompoc on Wednesday, October 18, at 11:00 a.m. Donations may be made to the Lompoc Historical Society, P.O. Box 88, Lompoc, CA 93438.