Ferguson, Loretta M.

Loretta M. Ferguson, 78, formerly of Vinton and Tipton, died at her home in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on April 2, 2010. Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the Mechanicsville Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. Bill Harnish. Loretta will be inurned at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mechanicsville. Morgan Funeral Tribute Center, Mount Vernon, is assisting the family with the arrangements.

Survivors include her mother, Hazel of Cedar Rapids; her son, Curtis and daughter-in-law Linda of North Myrtle Beach, S.C.; her grandson, Derek of Kernersville, N.C.; her granddaughter, Deanna of Wilmington, N.C.; and two brothers, Dean (Berta) Abernathey of Bovey, Minn., and Steve (Linda) Abernathey of Newhall. 

She was preceded in death by her father; brother “Buck”; and daughter, Cecilia and husband Walter.

Loretta was born June 21, 1931, at Virginia Gay Hospital, Vinton, the daughter of Guy and Hazel (Sanborn) Abernathey. She graduated from Lincoln High School, Vinton, in 1949, was an RN grad at Mount Mercy, and completed her postgraduate work at M. Hague, N.J. Loretta lived and worked as a nurse in New York in the early 1950s before returning to Iowa. She married Walter Ferguson on Aug. 29, 1954, at Vinton Presbyterian Church. They lived in Iowa City, Mechanicsville, Des Moines and Vienna, Va.

 Loretta was active in politics and was an Iowa delegate to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She and Walter returned in 1981 to Tipton, where Loretta renewed her RN certification and worked with the adult developmentally disabled until she retired in 1993. She enjoyed golf, crosswords and non-fiction reading. 

Memorials may be sent to Mercy Hospice & Palliative Care, Conway, S.C.

Online condolences can be sent to the family at