Loretta Belknap

Loretta Diane (Armstrong) Belknap
March 25, 1948 - October 8, 2017
Loretta Diane (Armstrong) Belknap was called home to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ October
8, 2017, while at home and surrounded by her family and loved ones, following a courageous battle with
ovarian cancer. She fought cancer like a hellcat and never let it get the best of her positive attitude.
Loretta was born on March 25, 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. Her parents, Mervin and Ethel (McNicols)
Armstrong raised their family, which included a younger sister and brother, on a small farm outside
Earlham, Iowa.
At the tender age of 17, while working at the local Dairy Queen, a friend told her about a bunch of "good
lookin' construction guys" Loretta just had to meet. Loretta thought this was a terrible idea until she
clamped eyes on one Michael Belknap. Mike thought she was a pretty girl and Loretta announced she'd
just met the man she was going to marry. Loretta and Mike dated for the rest of Loretta's high school
days, following which she attended and graduated from Surgical Technician Training at Methodist
Hospital in Des Moines, IA, all while she continued to date Mike. Loretta then decided to further her
career in healthcare by attending Mercy College of Nursing, and it's a good thing she and Mike were still
dating, because Loretta needed help paying for her Chemistry class so she could graduate with her
Diploma in Nursing. After graduating from Nurses Training in 1974, Loretta moved to Hot Springs, SD to
be closer to Mike (they were still dating….) and to begin work as a Student RN while she awaited the
results of her Board of Nursing exam. After officially becoming an RN, Loretta continued to date Mike
while she worked at the VA Hospital in Hot Springs. Finally, after Christmas of 1974 came and went
without a proposal from the man she'd now been dating for a decade, she informed Mike that he could
either marry her or she was moving to California. The couple were joined together in Holy Matrimony at
the United Methodist Church in Hot Springs, SD January 31, 1975.
After the wedding, Mike and Loretta relocated to a ranch south of Chadron, NE and Loretta took a job at
the Chadron Community Hospital. In 1978 they welcomed their first child, Lynette Renee, and Lisa Diane
soon followed in 1981. Mike and Loretta purchased their own piece of Valhalla in 1986, where they
raised their girls and celebrated the arrival of their four grandchildren over the next 30 years.
Loretta always believed being a nurse was her true calling in life. Over the course of her vast nursing
career, Loretta worked in nearly every facet of healthcare from administration to home health, as well
as going on several medical missions to Jamaica, Haiti, and the jungles of Nicaragua. Loretta greatly
valued education as a crucial part of nursing and went back to school to earn her Bachelors of Science in
Nursing Degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. After earning her BSN, she immediately
turned her sights towards a Master's of Science Degree, which she earned from Chadron State College in
2016.
Loretta was thrilled to witness the marriage of both of her daughters to gentlemen, of whom she
thoroughly approved. Lisa married Andrew Mullen on May 16, 2015, and Lynette married Calvin
Williams on July 4, 2016. Loretta was very pleased with the addition of both of these fellows and
frequently told people she couldn't have picked better partners for her girls had she tried…and she had
tried!
The only thing Loretta loved more than being a nurse was being a grandma. She welcomed her first and
only grandson, Dayde Michael, in 2001 and spent the rest of her life cheering him on in everything he
did. In 2014, Lisa brought home her future husband Andrew, along with the first granddaughter, Natalie
Elaine. Natalie and Grandma Retta spent several months getting to know one another while making
chocolate chip cookies and playing school. Grace Renee joined the ranks of the grandchildren in July
2016 when her dad married Lynette, instantly becoming the senior member of the crew. Madelaine
Diane, was welcomed to the family later that same month and Loretta spent several months helping Lisa
deal with a very beautiful and equally fiery, little girl.
Loretta was preceded in death by her parents Mervin and Ethel (McNicols) Armstrong, as well as
numerous aunts and uncles. She is survived by her husband, Mike Belknap, whom she loved madly for
52 years, calling him ‘husband' for the past 42, her daughters Lynette (Calvin) Williams, of Billings,
Montana, and Lisa (Andrew) Mullen of Hemingford, Nebraska; grandchildren, Grace Williams, Dayde
Belknap, Natalie Mullen and Madelaine Mullen. Her sister Linda Algreen of Scottsdale, Arizona, and her
brother Ken (Diann) Armstrong of Amboy, WA, numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and
nephews, as well as many cousins and a whole host of friends and neighbors whom she held as close as
family.