Obituary
On September 22, 2024, Lorraine passed away peacefully in the WakeMed Hospital of Raleigh, North Carolina, surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses and supported until the very end by her devoted husband Sam Dwyer. Despite being a cat with many lives, she finally succumbed to a fall down the carpeted stairs of her home in Cary, North Carolina. Survivors include her husband Sam, her two sons Rowan (Sybil) and Kyle (Bianca), two stepdaughters, Fawn (Ben), Kymbre (Owen), and one grandson, Gianni.
Lorraine was born on September 11, 1951, and grew up in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where she met and fell in love with Lee Johnson. They married and settled in Johannesburg, South Africa with their two lively sons, Rowan and Kyle. They enjoyed a highly fruitful life, full of scores of successes and bountiful social events. Lorraine and Lee remained loving friends until Lee’s death in 2016.
In 1995, the family emigrated to Vancouver, Canada, where Lorraine continued to live a full personal and professional life until she returned to South Africa in 2004. She started a successful company in Johannesburg and eventually met the next love of her life, Sam Dwyer. Soon after they met, Lorraine and Sam hiked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, to celebrate her 60th birthday. They enjoyed many wonderful years traveling the world and visiting their hundreds of friends across South Africa, Canada, and the USA.
Ever curious about the world, Lorraine enjoyed game drives, concerts, dance floors, hiking, and lengthy dinners with her highly cherished friends. Always the life of the party, Lorraine was gregarious and she never met a stranger. She dearly loved her family, her many friends, and her three countries of residence. Lorraine was extremely proud of her boys and the lovely girls they married, Sybil and Bianca. She was a loving wife and devoted mother and maintained extremely close bonds with all four of the children until the very end.
To honor her wishes, the family will hold a Celebration of Life ceremony on Saturday afternoon of October 5th at 1:00 PM at the Lochmere Golf Club in Cary, NC 27518, and later on, in her beloved Pennington in South Africa. Lorraine’s ashes will be scattered over Blyde River Canyon in South Africa. We ask that you dance, sing, hike a mountain, see your favorite musician in concert, have a rusk, raise a toast, or prepare a special meal to share with your loved ones. These types of things brought immense joy to Lorraine’s life.
In lieu of flowers, financial contributions in memory of Lorraine Johnson can be made to Our Mascot – ROO – New Beginnings (newbeginningscharity.co.za).
