Dolores Ferne Layer Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

DOLORES FERNE LAYER NEW HARMONY, INDIANA Dolores Ferne (Braun) Layer, born February 2, 1928, passed very gently into the light on Monday, November 30, 2020 at around 5:30PM CST, due to complications from the Novel Covid 19 Virus, she was 92 years and 10 months of beautiful life. She was preceded in death by her daughter Valerie Joan (Layer) Gray, her former husband, Edwin Layer, her younger sister, Joyce (Braun) Closs, and her parents Dorothy Ferne (Lucas) Braun and William Fredrick Braun. Dolores Layer was a polymath: a professional singer, whose voice and pitch never once wavered. Dolores made her first professional recording after placing second in the Miss Cleveland Pageant in the 1940s and continued recording and singing semi-professionally up through the 1980s. Dolores was a business-owner (The Magic Puppet Toy Shoppe and Puppet Theater of Lafayette, Indiana), a gifted oil painter, and a talented cook and baker, producing magical culinary creations out of marzipan, baking traditional Springerle cookies Lebkuchen and Christmas "Stohllen" every year at the holidays. She loved to entertain and was considered by many to be one of the most charming hostesses one could possibly meet. Dolores was a devoted mother, raising three children and showering her 4 grandkids with constant love and care. A longtime member of Trinity United Methodist Church of Lafayette, Indiana, and Ellettsville (Indiana) Christian Church, Dolores' faith and devotion to her lord carried her through many uncertain times and changes through her 92 years. Following the passing of her eldest child, Valerie (Layer) Gray in 2013, she moved to the Charles R. Ford Home in New Harmony, Indiana to be closer to her son, Christopher Layer who founded The New Harmony Music Festival & School in 2012, moving to Premier Healthcare in 2017. Dolores is survived by her two sons: Kurt E. Layer of Indianapolis, Indiana and Christopher W. Layer of New York, New York, and New Harmony, Indiana, her daughter-in-law, Antoinette (Venizia) Layer, her grandchildren, Dr. Kyle Hayes and Erika (Layer) Hayes, RN, Evan and Elizabeth Layer, Cassandra Gray, and her great grandchild Katherine Rose Hayes. During her life the excellent staff and residents at Premier Healthcare Of New Harmony made Dolores feel welcome and loved, and the family wishes to express their thank you to, one and all of these staff members, as they continue to contend with the current crisis with expertise and dignity, helping and caring for those residents and staff that have been afflicted, like the family that they are. In lieu of cut flowers, the family suggests that donations can be made to: Premier Healthcare of New Harmony Activity Fund, in memory of Dolores Layer, 251 Highway 66, New Harmony, IN 47631.

Dolores Ferne Layer

February 2, 1928 - November 30, 2020

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