Loran Wilbur Deming was born in Tonkawa, Oklahoma on February 2,
1922, the seventh of eight children of Marion Morrell Deming and Ida Bell Roof Deming. When he was big enough, he worked the family farm. He attended school in Tonkawa, Pleasant Hill and Thomas and graduated from Weatherford High School in 1940, where he had excelled in wrestling, football and voice. He then drove the school bus, farmed and attended U.S. Government Trade School until the outbreak of World War II.
He voluntarily enlisted in December of 1941 in the U.S. Navy at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City and was trained in Chicago, Illinois, where he sang with the Great Lakes Naval Choir. He was shipped out on the USS Garfield, traveled through the Panama Canal, and reached the West Coast, where he was assigned to the USS Chester, an anti-aircraft battleship cruiser, fighting in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, taking bomb, torpedo and mine hits, which sank his ship near New Hebrides. Seaman 1st Class Deming was then assigned to the USS Clytie, a subtender, and gave repair and support out of Freemantle, Australia, until the end of the war. During down times, Deming participated in exhibition wrestling matches. He was Honorably Discharged on February 13, 1945 at the Murrah Building and returned home to the farm and school at Southwestern State, achieving his BS in Education in 1950 and his Masters in Teaching in 1966.
He married Christine Ledbetter on February 14, 1948 and welcomed the birth of four children between 1950 and 1955. He taught in Kansas from 1950-54, then worked as a draftsman for Cessna and Beechcraft Corporation doing various mechanical drawings until a layoff in 1960. Answering an ad in the local paper, Deming met with Minard Maus of White Pine County School District, and accepted a teaching contract in 1962
Mr. Deming taught at White Pine High School from 1962-83, teaching Mechanical Drawing, Industrial Math, and began the current Wrestling program at WPHS out of his own funds and coached until 1970. He assisted the football team setting the yardage chains at the games. He coached the McGill Pop Warner team. He enjoyed the Nevada lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and roaming the hills and built a ranch north of Bassett Lake, raising produce and cattle.
Mr. Deming is survived by his wife, Christine; his brother, Dwight Deming of Abilene, TX; his children Mary Hutchings of Fallon, NV; John Rell Deming of Sandy, Utah; Ruth Ann Rolland of Henderson, NV; and Dale Alvin Deming of Oro Valley, AZ; as well as seven grandchildren and ten great- grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Marion Morrell Deming; his mother, Ida Bell Roof Deming; his brothers and sisters, and his great-granddaughter, Taylar Rose Mary Hutchings.
Services will be held 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 29, 2016, at the Ely United Methodist Church at 1100 S Pioche Hwy, Ely, NV. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ely United Methodist Church Memorial Fund at P.O. Box 151838, Ely, NV 89315.
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