Lora Mae Kempfe, 83, of Independence, Mo., died Saturday, December 17, 2022, at Kansas City Hospice House in Kansas City, Mo.
 Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, December 29, 2022, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 17200 E. 39th St. S., Independence, MO 64055. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, December 28, 2022, at the church. Graveside services will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, December 29, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Alma, Mo. Memorials are suggested to Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, 801 Seminary Pl., Suite L010, St. Louis, MO 63105 or to donate online, click the “donate” button at lwml.org, once there, you can choose which fund to pay into and designate “In Memory of”. Arrangements are in care of Campbell-Lewis Funeral Home. Friends may sign the online register book at www.campbell-lewis.com.
 On December 17, 2022, God called an angel to Heaven. Lora Mae Kempfe, born May 23, 1939, in Higginsville, Mo. to Roy J. and Lorna (Lohman) Schnakenberg, brought joy and light to everyone she encountered. Lora was baptized at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Ernestville, Mo. by Pastor Erich Peterson on June 18, 1939. Born into faith, she continued her confirmation journey on March 29, 1953, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Concordia, Mo. by Pastor O.E. Heilman.
 Even as a child, Lora loved school and the opportunity to grow in her faith with friends and family. During the week she lived with her maternal grandparents in order to attend Lutheran Day School at Ernestville, Mo. Her love of helping younger students in a one-room schoolhouse was an early entry into her teaching career. Activities such as membership in the Walther League Youth Group, pep club, chorus, 4-H, and Majorettes provided Lora the platform to socialize and visit – which was her favorite thing to do – with the people who meant most to her.
 Lora graduated from Concordia High School in May 1957 where she went on to graduate from St. Paul’s College in 1959. Impassioned with a love for education, she answered a plea for Lutheran school teachers by attending Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Ill. and spreading the Word of God to children through her kindness and love. Lora taught school for 30 years, the last 23 spent at Messiah Lutheran School in Independence, Mo., from where she retired in 2004.
 On July 27, 1963, Lora married her soulmate in Christ, Donald William Kempfe, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alma, Mo. The bride’s uncle, Pastor Clinton Koch, performed the ceremony. The union was bound to be blessed as the faithful couple realized they shared the same confirmation verse, 1 Timothy 4:8. Lora and Don took many trips throughout their happy marriage; they started traveling as newlyweds and never stopped. They drove all over the United States visiting friends and family. Some favorite vacations included attending Royals spring training camps, sweeping along the coast of Maine, ascending the Smoky Mountains, enjoying a cruise to Alaska, trips to Disney World, Hawaii, and many more places. They made numerous trips to visit their daughter, Lynette and family in Virginia, navigating the Washington, D.C. Metro for a day or two of sightseeing. Virginia is where Lora enjoyed playing and loving on her two favorite boys, grandsons Warner and Landon.
 While her children attended Messiah Lutheran School, she was quite active in the Parent Teacher League where she organized the school carnival, acted as a room mother, and did some substitute teaching. Lora also spent countless hours working the Royals and Chiefs concession stands as a percentage of those earnings helped pay for a new gym at the school. So, when Messiah started a four year-old preschool program, Lora was the perfect choice as their teacher. As any family member of a teacher would tell you, she spent many hours at home creating cut-outs, projects, and learning games she could use in her classroom. Over the years, it gave her great pleasure to watch her students grow, and eventually teach the children of some of those former students. An annual highlight was bringing her preschool class to the Kempfe Family farm. They would run, play, learn about crops, have picnics, and end with Don taking them on a scenic, yet bumpy hayride through the fields.
 At the time of her death, Lora was president of St. Paul’s Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. She was a long time Altar Guild member, often serving as chairperson; she sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, enjoyed going to church picnics, softball games and serving meals. Lora was also involved in the Missouri District LWML where she attended regional and national conventions. Other volunteer work included the Lutheran Urban Mission Agency in Kansas City, and stints as an election poll worker.
 Lora was a natural people-person and made friends wherever she went. She would hold full conversations with store cashiers, restaurant servers, and others, often giving them more details than was necessary, yet leaving everyone with a smile on their face. Some of her favorite leisure activities included playing games and cards, reading, completing Jumble, word searches, and Sudoku puzzles. Lunching out with her girl friends, high school classmates, and former teacher colleagues kept her busy through the years.
 Anyone who knew Lora, knew she was a great cook and baker. Lora was the first person one could count on to order dessert at a restaurant, and not a Sunday dinner or holiday celebration went by without homemade cookies, Swedish Tea Logs, cinnamon rolls, pies, etc. She definitely had a sweet tooth and always sent delicious confections home with her visitors. Lora even made sure her grand-dogs always had treats at her house.
 Lora is preceded in death by her dear husband, Donald Kempfe; triplet sons in infancy; her parents; brother, Roger Schnakenberg; brothers-in-law, Mark Matthews, Wayne Hass, Arthur Deuschle, Jr., Bob Salmon; and sister-in-law, Marilyn Ohrenberg. Having been blessed to know and love Lora, she is survived by her daughter Lynette (Michael) Gates of Falls Church, Va., son David (Amy) Kempfe of Kansas City, Mo., and grandsons, Warner and Landon Gates. Other surviving loved-ones include a sister, Jean Salmon of Warsaw, Mo.; sisters-in-law Kathy Schnakenberg of Concordia, Mo.; and Carolyn Matthews of Lincoln, Mo.; brother-in-law, Edward Ohrenberg of Alma, Mo.; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
 To love Lora is to know Christ. She embodied the true love of His teachings, and used her presence on Earth to spread joy and happiness to everyone she met. Lora will be unimaginably missed, but her friends and family will forever relish in being a part of her incredible life’s journey. We look forward to being with you again in Heaven.
 I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. (John 11:25-26)