Delaney, Loral I. passed away peacefully Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021, after a two-year battle with breast cancer. Loral I was born Feb. 3, 1938, in Ramsey, at Armstrong Ranch, in the home where she lived nearly her entire life. Her father and mother, Fred and Nellie Armstrong, founded the 360-acre ranch in 1926 and raised mink and fox there, and trained dogs. In 1956, Minnesota's first shooting preserve was established at the ranch, and its clientele included a who's-who of business leaders and professional athletes, among many others. At the ranch, Loral I cultivated a passion for animals, dogs especially. At age 5, she first appeared with her dad's Labradors at the Northwest Sportshow in Minneapolis. "She literally brought down the house,'' this newspaper declared when she returned with her dogs the next year. By age 9, she was tramping the ranch grounds with Tony, her cocker spaniel, and a Stevens .410 single-shot, two interests - dogs and guns - that would largely define her life. At 13, she took over management of her dad's kennel, while expanding her sportshow performances nationwide over six decades. She first competed at the Minnesota State Trapshoot at age 19, breaking 197x200 and winning the women's championship. At the same event, she won the handicap in a shoot-off with five men. She would go on to win seven Grand American World Trapshooting Championships, including five years consecutively, and is the only woman to win more than two in a row and more than four total. Named to every All-American Trapshooting Team between 1966 and 1981 with the exception of one year, she also won the Women's World Flyer Championships four times and shot for the U.S. Women's Trapshooting Team before women's trapshooting became an Olympic event. In 1989, she was inducted into the National Trapshooting Hall of Fame. A keen horsewoman, Loral I in her lifetime owned and rode several breeds, and loved caring for her horses, including grooming, feeding and mucking their stalls. A dream day for her in fall would be spent horseback, hunting grouse, a scabbard slung from her saddle, toting a 20 gauge, with Reagan, her German shorthair, and Clooney, her English setter, out ahead. The day would end with Chuck, the love of her life, at what is now known as Armstrong Ranch Kennels, on the patio of the home they have shared since their marriage at the ranch in 1960. The two had met in Los Angeles when Loral I appeared with her dogs at a sportshow Chuck managed. They have been inseparable ever since whether hunting, trapshooting (they won the U.S. Husband-Wife Trapshooting Championship four times), founding Game Fair, which they did in 1980, or simply hanging out around a bonfire on the consummately picturesque grounds of what is now known as Armstrong Ranch Kennels. Preceding Loral I in death, in addition to her parents, were her brother, Fred Jr., and sister, Morlee Morrill. In addition to Chuck, she is survived by daughter Sherry Miller (Eric) of Ramsey; grandchildren Chandra Twede (Scott) of Aliso Viejo, Calif, Ana Miller and John Miller of Anoka and two nieces and a nephew - Steve (Pam) Morrill, Martha Morrill, and Ann (Mark) Greaver. Loral I's life will be celebrated Saturday, Oct. 16, 1-5 p.m., at Armstrong Ranch Kennels in Ramsey

Published on September 26, 2021