Lori Kemp

January 11, 1935-March 13, 2023

Lori was born in Mason City, Iowa to Edwin and Verna Sharp.

She studied nursing at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa and then studied art at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

She was a member of the all-girls Scottish Highlanders bagpipe group at the University of Iowa, which performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on the same episode as Louis Armstrong. After that, she went on a tour performing with that group in England as well as in Scotland, where they performed for the Queen.

Lori met her husband, Floyd Kemp, in an art class at Iowa State Teachers College. They were married May 30th, 1959 and then traveled to Maine to be counselors at Camp Tapawingo.

She was an art teacher and yearbook advisor at Parkside High School in Jackson, Michigan. She was also an accomplished weaver, doll maker and fiber artist.

After retiring from teaching, Lori and Floyd moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina, where she had an art gallery/shop, Vern and Idy’s, which sold Floyd’s pottery, other artists work, and her own weaving and handmade dolls. She was a member of both Fiber Friends and the Weaving Guild in Asheville, North Carolina. She and her husband enjoyed traveling together around the country.

Lori & Floyd moved to Oberlin, Ohio in the fall of 2015.

She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Floyd R. Kemp; three children, Tim R. Kemp (Pam), Ann Kemp and Ratsy Kemp (Brian Beckstein); and grandchildren, Stephen Kemp and Sara Kemp.

All services will be private.

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