Lori Ann Hale
September 28, 1960 - May 10, 2007
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Lori Ann Hale
September 28, 1960 - May 10, 2007
Obituary
Lori Ann Caruso Hale, born on September 28, 1960, died peacefully at her home on Thursday, May 10, 2007, surrounded by her family and loved ones. Lori had battled breast and thyroid cancer since 1998. Recently the cancer spread into Lori’s lungs and quickly into her brain. Lori wanted to make sure to express a special thanks to her caregiver buddies over the last several years; Dr. Dave Okun, Dr. Nora Evans, Phyllis Martin, and her City of Hope pals Dr. Steve Forman and Barb Stehr. All of them helped make her life better and longer.
Lori was born in New York and moved to California at a young age. Later in life she became a very successful cosmetologist in Hollywood and Los Angeles before pursuing a career helping hundreds of people with alcoholism, cocaine addiction, and severe mental health problems. One of her daily goals was to make someone else’s life better in whatever way possible and there are legions of people who will confirm she was successful. Lori was an active member of St. Kilian’s Catholic Parish in Mission Viejo and enjoyed her involvement with the Pastoral Council, her friends Father Jim and Scotty, and all her Bible study and weekly Rosary pals. Lori made two pilgrimages to Lourdes, France, with the Knights of Malta, one as a Malade and the next year as a volunteer.
Her family was her life and her life was her family. She enjoyed a wonderful relationship with her sister Jackie. Her other sister, Karen, was Lori’s constant nursing buddy during some of her toughest medical challenges, including the Hospice care she received at home. She had a special relationship with her father Ed and mom Ruth. Her nephews Shay, Ryan, and Josh made her giggle constantly. Her lifetime friend Patti had a special place in her heart and soul that is beyond description. Her pals Anna, Karen McCartney, Linda Muhonen, La La Gretchen, and Kristen The Tornado always made her feel special and loved the way friends are supposed to in good times and bad. Lori also had parent and teacher friends and supporters too numerous to name individually at Serra Catholic School and Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
Lori and Bill were married in June 1990 and had two beautiful daughters, Erynn, 15, and Katy, 11. Her Girls, as she often referred to them, became Lori’s passion, joy and meaning in life. She taught them fashion, grooming, homework shortcuts, cooking, laughing, the importance of friendships, and the value of faith and a strong belief in God. Lori loved Erynn and Katy at a level and depth that only mothers understand. Their smiles and laughter often made Lori’s entire day happy and worthwhile in spite of her constant battles with cancer. Her 17-year marriage to Bill was filled with fun and the joy of raising two strong-willed children and overcoming hundreds of different challenges while sharing the intimacy and friendship you hope to experience once during a lifetime.
Lori will be missed in so many ways by so many people, but mostly by her daughters Erynn and Katy. They are fortunate she has left them with her spirit and strength and we know she will be whispering in their ears daily, helping guide them through a beautiful life. Lori Hale, the Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend, and Wife, is difficult to describe. If we took a beautiful sunset in a vibrantly colored garden, added a beautiful piece of art, music, and the poem of a lifetime, and then threw in the spirit and graciousness of an Angel, we might be close to describing the person we will all miss who has just joined God’s inner circle. P.S. Good-bye Cookie, I have loved you from the first day I saw you.
Open casket visitation with family and friends will be from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and a prayer vigil at 8:30 pm the evening of Thursday, May 17, followed by a funeral Mass at 10:30 am on Friday, May 18. Both will take place at St. Kilian’s Catholic Church in Mission Viejo. Burial will follow at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Lori’s memory to Susan G. Komen for the Cure 3191 A Airport Loop Drive, Costa Mesa CA. 92629.
120 responses to Lori Ann Hale
bill hale says:
December 22, 2008
Hi Lori Ann and a very Merry Christmas. It’s the 22nd and the girls and I leave tomorrow for a week, next year we will begin a new tradition of our own here in the home you created for us, this year was still a little raw and it’s best we get away.Life is changing and moving on as you wanted for me and for the girls. I’ve fully accepted the hole in my heart is a permanent pain but my memories of you and gratitude for sharing our lives together often offsets the pain with smiles and deeply spiritual reflections. Your daughters continue to become more beautiful each day in mind, body and spirit. Lori, your mothering and depth of examples and values our children feel is a wonderful testament to your Angelic blessings that you shared with them and thousands of other people directly or indirectly during yoiur short 46 year life.I miss you for many reasons, one of the more painful ones is my daughters not having the most wonderful Mom in the whole wide world. My many photos of the 3 of you together often cause me to weep when I see the joy, love, laughter and happiness I see in each of your eyes. I’m making progress reengaging in life as I promised and often I feel you laughing with me and teasing me about many things, sometimes I can even hear that familiarlaughing shrill of BILLIE, what are you doing. Cookie I know I’m going to be OK but in a different way, the girls seem to be very normal and have learned to still have tons of fun and a huge number of friends. We will miss you forever but we will live the lives you wanted for us and find and live the life of joy and happiness you expect of us. Merry Christmas Honey, I love you and I’m sorry that brutal hideous disease took you from us.
BILL HALE says:
January 2, 2009
HI COOKIE,its a New Year and the girls and I had a good Christmas and a challenging New Year and spent a lot of time with many of our old friends and many new friends. Friends always give us a lot of laughs and loving support. We talked about you in a funny reflective loving cherished smiling manner versus the grief,pain, sadness we have shared about you on previousoccasions.Life goes on for all of them, some good and some bad just like the daily experiences the girls and I live with and deal with not having you in our lives.I miss not sharing and laughing about our New Year goals and resolutions, that was so much fun. Our daughters continue to help me and make me try to be a better parent,clearly we have given birth to daughters who understand the meaning of independence. I know you’ve recently shared some prayers and laughs with some special new friends and I can only imagine the stories you’ve shared. I visited yesterday and shared your Fiji water and cleaned your gravesite, I always feel the gentle breeze on my face you send my way and the soft rustle of leaves behind me even on very calm days. I know you are with me and guiding me each day.I’ve divested myself of everything work related and will wait until Katy enters HS before I consider anything else, she needs my attention and I love being her personal Concierge. Erynn will leave for college this year and we are waiting for acceptance letters. Our daughters are such beautiful souls and I am so grateful and proud of them, each in their own way possess and demonstrate so many of your beautiful qualities. My life is pretty simple,routine daily chores and schedule demands 24/7 which I can only laugh about, a far cry from a life of private jets and high profile activity in NY and DC.I’m fumbling through how to reconnect socially and emotionally and many days I can only laugh and ponder the possibility that I have lost any semblance of social skills.A widowed hermit would be high on my list had it not been for the promises you extracted from me before going to heaven. We love you and miss you Lori Ann and your armies of followers hold you near and dear to their hearts and souls but none more so that the 3 of us who realize more and more each day God showed us his grace by allowing us to spend our lives with an Angel…..Oh Yeah, of course we got a real tree, the after Christmas sales are great and Roan and Shadow are attending obedience school…HAPPY NEW YEAR and I’m so sorry you had to leave us.
BILL HALE says:
January 23, 2009
BILL HALE says:
January 23, 2009
HI LORI…. Big day for you and me, our daughter received her first letter of acceptance to one of the UNIVERSITIES she applied to. I’m not sure she realizes how much of a dream and a hope you and I have had for her about this goal. I’m confident she’ll receive other acceptance letters and will make her decision in the next few months about where to attend college. Naturally when the letter arrived and I realized what it was I cried with you and laughed with you and prayed with you and then shared the good news with our daughter, who as you might expect was out shopping for new shoes to a dance. After her I started with a few very special friends and then sat back and said a few prayers and thought about our hopes, dreams, wishes for our daughters we shared from the first day of their birth and each day thereafter until you went to heaven. I often hear your voice in my head telling them what to do and helping them do things a certain way. It would have been fun having you here and sharing the day and news with you, I’m sure it would have also brought tears to your eyes. I’m reasonably sure by the end of the day I have notified most of the Nation about our daughter’s accepatance so I thought I’d say good night to you with this special news and close my eyes and think of that pretty smile on your face as you peacefully sit in your beautiful garden saying your rosary and watching over all of us. We miss you and love you Lori Ann and our daughter has filled our pride bucket even higher than before.And of course our journey continues until the promises are fulfilled.
bill hale says:
February 10, 2009
HI COOKIE…WOW, 21 months today you died and went to your permanent home in Heaven. I often talk to you as you sit peacefully in your beautiful garden smiling, praying and looking over all of us. Your presence,voice,spirit and examples of strenght,principles, courage and convictions frequently guide my decisions about my life and certainly our wonderful daughters. We had a cup of coffee together today at your gravesite, it was bitter cold in the very early morn and the frost was thawing on your grave. It was an unusually cold morning and I always pay attention to symbols when I visit you. Your headstone was covered with an extra large stack of leaves and I laughed and cried all at once thinking about your extra heavy warm coats and you always being cold. The leaves almost looked like they’d been placed there to provide warmth and cover for your grave.I’ve finally been starting to pack and organize and store most of your clothes and closet stuff and books etc and it’s been very painful but also very healthy and one of those items we talked about that would need to be done by me and know one else. Paige has done a lot of the actual boxing and that’s made it easier but still very tough.I was brought to my knees today when I found one of the boxes we’d packed together,the one with all your scans and medical records and the detailed summaries of your prognosis and speculation about what might happen to you. My God Lori, the battle you waged for so many years on so many fronts to only lose made me angry as possible for about an hour. The thyroid cancer, the breast cancer,the lymphodema,the years of migraines, the minor cardiac problems, the medications and their side affects, the chemo, the sleepless nights, the tests, the visits to the ER, the Radiology stuff and on and on. I still can’t believe the battles you fought. Your frail body toward the end was still full of love,compassion and concern for others and enormous vibrancy and that beautiful giving spirit that touched so many people.Clearly God knew he needed an incredible warrior and he got one. We miss you and love you Lori and after being reminded of these atrocious and incredible medical journeys you traveled I’m grateful you are at peace in God’s and our Blessed Mother’s loving arms.