Obituaries : Lola B. Kurtz; Former Secretary at Purdue

Lola Blanche Kurtz, a six-year Ventura County resident, died Tuesday at Community Memorial Hospital after a bout with cancer. She was 86.

Born in Lafayette, Ind., she worked for 15 years as a secretary at Purdue University in her hometown. In 1934, she married Rolland “Sock” Kurtz, who worked for the West Lafayette Fire Department.

The couple moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1962 shortly after Kurtz retired and in 1989, they moved to Ventura to be closer to their son, David Kurtz of Ventura.

Mrs. Kurtz would go to Las Vegas every two months or so to gamble, and nearly every week she bet on horse races, her son said.

“She was a very giving person,” said her son, adding that she loved to have family gatherings.

In addition to her son and husband, Mrs. Kurtz is survived by two brothers, Ike Runner of Canyon Lake, Calif., and Harold Runner of Hemet, Calif.; four sisters, Pauline Roe of Anaheim, Lillian Steiner of Las Vegas, Alice Disterdick of Palm Springs and Dorothy Jones of Lafayette, Ind.; daughter in-law Joyce Kurtz of Ventura; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at noon Friday at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura. A private entombment will take place Saturday at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills.