Loretta Francis Voyles passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 8, 2026 at the age of 97. A memorial service will be held on Friday, October 23, 2036 at 2:00 p.m. at the Braymer, Missouri Church of Christ.

Loretta was born on December 27, 1928 and was preceded in death by her parents, Jewel and Elma Gorham and her brothers, Jewel Gorham Jr and Omar Gorham.

Loretta married Harold Voyles, also of Braymer, Missouri, on June 13, 1947. They had been happily married for almost 71 years when he passed away on April 27, 2019.

Loretta attended Central Missouri State College for a time and taught school in a one room school house before her marriage, but upon her marriage, she devoted herself to adjusting to farm life and starting a family. Caring for her family was always her first priority and she excelled in the domestic arts. She was an excellent cook, a skilled housekeeper and an excellent seamstress. She made her own clothing and her daughters' clothing (including wedding dresses), hand embroidered table cloths and napkins for special occasions, took up painting and always took pride in being a very organized, clean and tidy housekeeper.

During her later years, she taught herself to use a personal computer to support her many hobbies and interests, especially tracing and recording the history of her family and Harold's family via genealogy. Loretta also loved to travel and documented her trips with photos and text. Harold's job gave them an opportunity to live in Atlanta, Georgia for a time and take an extended trip to Belgium. They also visited Israel with a group of friends from church in the mid 1970's and took an Alaskan cruise and visited Egypt with one of their daughters and her family after that.

Throughout her life Loretta's primary focus was on her family and church. She was also devoted to her home town. No matter where she lived, or how long she was away from Braymer, it seems she always considered Braymer, Missouri and the Church of Christ there to be her true "home". When circumstances associated with aging caused her to live with a daughter in Virginia during the last 17 months of her life, she compensated by watching, on a nearly daily basis, a You Tube video of Braymer that one of her grandsons found for her.

Loretta is survived by her daughters, Sharon Filipour (Amir Filipour) and Gayle Gordon (Barry Gordon); her grandchildren, Cameron Filipour (Kathy Hesston), Eric Ficenec (Nicole Scott), Alex Filipour, Kyle Ficenec (Tabby Ficenec), Andrew Filipour (Maya Hamdi); and great grandchildren, Dylan Barnhart, Cash Ficenec, Dalton Scott and Carson Scott.

Services will be held at the Braymer Church of Christ on Friday, October 23, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Burial will follow at Evergreen Cemetery, Braymer, Missouri. There will be a reception following the burial at the Braymer Lion's Club. Anyone who would like to attend are very welcome. Memorial contributions may be made to the Braymer Church of Christ and may be left at or mailed to Lindley Funeral Home, PO Box 47, Chillicothe, Missouri 64601. Online condolences may be made at www.lindleyfuneralhomes. com.

Arrangements are under the direction of Lindley Pitts Funeral Home, Braymer, Missouri.