Celebrating Lorraine Wang
1965 - 2023
Celebration of Life Reception
Please join us as we celebrate the life of our beloved Lorraine. We plan to honor her life by gathering friends and family together to share memories, laughter, tears, and the joy of knowing her, and we hope to provide a space in which people can remember her in community with one another. Food and drink will be served, and there will be time during this celebration for anyone who wishes to do so to share a story or two about Lorraine.
All guests will be able to enter the California Botanic Garden free of charge beginning 30 minutes prior to the event and may stay until the Garden closes. We encourage you to explore!
There is no need for formal, somber clothes. We request that you wear something that matches the cheerful spirit of the gathering and the peaceful garden scenery (along with a good pair of walking shoes).
Please RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Thank you!
All guests will be able to enter the California Botanic Garden free of charge beginning 30 minutes prior to the event and may stay until the Garden closes. We encourage you to explore!
There is no need for formal, somber clothes. We request that you wear something that matches the cheerful spirit of the gathering and the peaceful garden scenery (along with a good pair of walking shoes).
Please RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Thank you!
Location
California Botanic Garden
1500 N College Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
1500 N College Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Date & Time
June 10, 2023,
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Lorraine's Story
Lorraine Wang, whose sharp intelligence, tremendous work ethic, and unfailing good humor helped her deftly manage two major career shifts in a life cut short by cancer, passed away on April 29 at home with her family. She was 57.
Born June 21, 1965, in New York City, she was the daughter of Yvonne (Chien) Wang, a chemist, and Chung Chiang Wang, a physician. She grew up in the suburb of Cresskill, New Jersey, and lamented throughout her life that she was routinely stereotyped as Chinese rather than the “Jersey girl” she considered herself to be.
During high school, her application written as a Shakespearean sonnet helped gain her admission to Yale University as an English literature major. She was introduced to journalism at the Yale Daily News. After graduating magna cum laude from Yale in 1987, she spent a year teaching English to university students in Shanghai, China, before joining the Hartford Courant as a news copy editor.
While at the Courant, Lorraine met her husband, Michael Balchunas. They were married in 1991 and bought their first home the following year. As a new homeowner, she studied electricity manuals so she could map circuits, replace old outlets, and rewire lighting herself—one small example of the enthusiasm for learning that infused so much of her life.
Lorraine and Michael’s son Benjamin was born in 1994, and their daughter Bethany was born in 1997. Later that year, Lorraine and Michael joined the Los Angeles Times and moved their family across the country to Southern California.
Lorraine spent 16 years at the Times, often participating in the daily news planning meetings as a Page One news designer and editor. Before work and on days off, she attended digital art classes at Scripps College in Claremont, where she and her family lived. She graduated summa cum laude from Scripps in 2016.
In 2013—foreseeing a bleak future for the newspaper industry—Lorraine read a 900-page book on web coding during a weeklong family camping trip, and shortly afterward secured a position as a web developer and director at Claremont McKenna College. She later moved to a similar post at Claremont Graduate University.
While at Claremont McKenna, Lorraine began taking classes at an online law school in her off hours. Fascinated by her initial law studies and eager for a new challenge, she decided to change careers yet again. In 2018, at age 53, Lorraine began studying at USC Gould School of Law.
During law school, Lorraine worked as a summer associate at the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine, a Seattle-based firm that she knew had been receptive to diverse applicants, including women, people of color, and older law school graduates.
She was offered a position as an associate in the employment services group at Davis Wright Tremaine after graduating, and she embraced her new career as a lawyer just as she had the earlier two: with a focus on working hard, learning quickly and well, and enjoying conversations with her new colleagues, whether they were partners at the firm, other associates, support staff, or shuttle bus drivers. Her first-year review affirmed that she was excelling as a new attorney.
In November 2022, Lorraine learned that she had a rare and rapidly advancing cancer that was terminal. She chose to try to extend the time or quality of her remaining life with aggressive but debilitating treatment rather than move immediately to hospice care, and she underwent months of difficult chemotherapy and immunotherapy regimens.
Lorraine took on this challenge as she had the others in her life—with courage, determination, and as much good humor as she could summon.
Lorraine is remembered by her family and friends as kind, nurturing, funny, and smart. A lover of stories—especially those with happy endings—she enjoyed movies, comic books, and reading fiction. She also enjoyed spending time with her family, and her children have fond memories of her preparing breakfast on family camping trips. Her enthusiasm for life and learning was something evident even to people who were just meeting her. She was loved dearly by those who knew her, and she will be greatly missed.
In addition to her husband and children, she is survived by her mother, Yvonne Wang, of Irvine, CA; her sister, Linda Wang, of Ohio; her brother, Lawrence Wang, of Florida; as well as in-laws, nieces, and nephews.
In lieu of flowers at her memorial gathering, Lorraine asked that mourners consider donating to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a nonprofit organization that provides pro bono representation and other legal resources to journalists.
Photo Gallery
Please feel free to share a photo of Lorraine when filling out the RSVP form, and we will post it here.