Lorina Coker

Lorina Danielle Coker was born on October 7, 1988, in Denver, Colorado to Kathryn Elizabeth DeSha and Larry Darnell Jenkins. She was adopted by her Daddy, Paul Timothy Coker, in 1994.

Lorina lived the majority of her life in Aurora, Colorado, attending Aurora Christian Academy, Arkansas Elementary, Mrachek Middle, Rangeview High, and lastly The Aveda Institute.

As a young child, Lorina showed an interest in and a talent for music. She played the piano for 8 years, the clarinet for 1 year, experimented with the trumpet and had many years of voice lessons. She was also active in Concert Choir in High School. This passion for music never changed. She listened to a wide variety of music, and you could not catch her without some sort of listening device. She was so happy when she finally had a phone that could store music, so she only had to keep track of one electronic gadget!

She took Karate classes for 2 years, winning many awards and trophy's, and was in Girl Scout Troop #2520 from first through 8th grades (and one year sold over 1,000 boxes of cookies – the 3rd most for a Girl Scout in that year).

In middle school, Lorina was on played volleyball, basketball and ran track for the school teams. In high school, she showed a gift for the game of golf (shooting a 33 on a 9 hole course while playing with Dad one day).

Lorina's physical beauty is what usually first attracted people to her, and after they got to know her, her tender heartedness is what endeared us to her. As a child, something as simple as an odd look from a stranger, would break her heart and start her crying. As this character trait played out through the rest of her life, it was exhibited by how she would drop what she was doing to help anybody who appeared to need it, to loaning money she didn't have to help a friend, or letting friends move into her apartment, even when she couldn't afford the rent – or food. This compassion is also why she chose to go into massage therapy. She liked this field because every client would walk away feeling better than when they came in and she was helping people. She was also known to have a fiery temper on occasion. Her effervescent personality, wonderful smile and infectious laughter will be missed by everybody she came in contact with.

Above everything, her first love was children. From her nieces and nephews, to the children she babysat, to all of her God Children - - kids are what gave her the most joy. She was a strict disciplinarian, but was tender and would lavish praise more often than anything. Every child she came in contact with knew "Yay!!! Gimmee Five!!". When she was in a melancholy mood, she would call friends or family members and ask if she could hang out with their kids, this always cheered her up.

Lorina went home, to be with Jesus, on August 24, 2011. While she took a little piece of us with her, she left us with much fuller lives having had the opportunity to know her, and we praise God for that.

Lorina leaves to cherish her memory: her mother Kathy Coker; her fathers, Paul Coker and Larry Jenkins; her grandparents, William Coker II, Al Rose and Louise DeSha-Rose; her uncles and aunts, Kevin DeSha (Tammy), Vincent Bos, Kasha Davis (Chuck), Winnie Johnson, Patricia O'Donnell, Billie Jean McCalla (Harry), William Coker III (Dorothy), Johnny Jenkins Jr. (Shetona), Alice Jones (Winston), Daniel Charles Jenkins, Gary Jenkins, Fredrick Jenkins; her brothers, Cameron (Lauren) Coker, Rashawn Pierson, Armand (Neketia) Anderson; her sisters, Melanie D. Coker, Marisha Tucker, April Greenwood (Jermaine) and Ashley Jenkins; her nephews, Cameron, Landon, Jaydin and Daniel; nieces, Jazlyn-Lanae, Arabella, Aricia, Armya, Donyelle, Janyah, Zyriah, Alexis, and Kayla. Lorina also leaves to cherish her memory, innumerable beloved cousins and friends.

Because of Lorina's extreme love of children, in leau of flowers, please send donations to SungateKids, P.O. Box 24225, Denver, CO 80224, to help fight child abuse.