Laurel M. Hafen

September 3, 1925 - January 10, 2021

Laurel M. Hafen Laurel was born September 3, 1925 in St. George Utah and died January 10, 2021 in Rochester, Illinois of COVID related issues. She was the daughter of Edward and Hazel Hopkins McMullin. She grew up in the small pioneer town of Leeds in southern Utah. Laurel graduated from Dixie High School and Dixie Junior College in St. George, Utah and received a B.S. degree in Education from Utah State University in Logan, Utah in 1948. She taught school in Utah for two years and in Indiana for three years at Otterbein Elementary School. She made lifelong friends with fellow Otterbein Elementary teachers and former students sought her out to express their appreciation for a job well done. She married Leslie Hafen on June 23, 1949 in the St. George, Utah LDS Temple. They moved to West Lafayette, Indiana in 1950 where her husband attended Purdue University and ultimately became a tenured faculty member. While Leslie and Laurel intended to return to Utah at the conclusion of Leslie’s education, it never happened. In the end, they were Hoosiers and proud to be from Indiana. Laurel was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served indifferent capacities within the structure of the church throughout her adult life, including 20 years in various leadership positions of the regional and local women’s Relief Society organization. She particularly enjoyed working with the young women ages 12 to 18 years of age where she taught adolescents how to knit, crochet, cook, and perfect those famous yoga lunges and above all else laugh and enjoy the journey. She was also the cub scout leader for many years where she taught young boys ages 8 to 12 how to tie different kinds of knots, make campfire dinners and above all else, follow directions. She was a role model her approach to seeing needs and fulfilling them. Her creativity and culinary skills came out in many ways and she often used them to benefit others well beyond her own family. Her cooking, canning, and baking capabilities were welcome to the wide range of people that she provided with food in many circumstances, always with a generous heart and a joyful disposition. Similarly, for years she knitted booties and hats for all the newborn babies born at Home Hospital and later St. Elizabeth. She made sure all the premature babies each had a pair of handmade booties and hats. In these and many other ways Laurel expressed the importance she felt of being a part of the community and joyously living up to the responsibilities she felt toward the community. Surviving are two daughters, Lorelei Hills (Fred) of Herndon, Virginia; Ada Jean Richards (Stephen), and a son, Kent Hafen (Cindy) of Taylorsville, Utah. Laurel has eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, one sister, and three brothers, and a son-in-law, Fred Hills. She loved her parents; her sister and brothers; her husband; her children and their spouses and their children, and her close friends so very much. In return, many valued her friendship. During the last eight years of her life, she lived with her daughter, Jeannie and family in Rochester, Illinois. She felt richly blessed to live out her end-of-life years with such abiding love from the Richards family. Funeral services will be Thursday, January 14 at 1:00 pm in the West Lafayette chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3224 Jasper Street. Visitation is at 12 pm prior to funeral service. Due to covid restrictions attendance is limited to invitational only. However, services will be available virtually through zoom. Contact Bishop Kevin Mumford or a family member for further information. Hippensteel Funeral Home providing arrangements. Bishop Kevin Mumford officiating. Interment to follow at Tippecanoe Memory Gardens, West Lafayette, Indiana. Share memories and condolences online at www.hippensteelfuneralservice.com