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:
November 22, 2009
HI LORI ANN. We approach another one of your special holidays and we miss you. Our Freshman will be home for a week and I can’t wait to see her and give her a big hug. Our little Noodle girl is excited about seeing her big Sis. Our lives were filled with so many challenges and we always laughed about how nothing ever came easy or went exactly as we had planned or hoped. I think that will continue to be my reality even though you are gone and I will continue to love and care for our beautiful daughters as long as I possibly can and do everything within my power to help them, nurture them, protect them, love them and help them be happy. I miss you and love you Cookie, Happy Thanksgiving and I will make sure to eat the extra piece of pie just for you. Thank You for the guidance and the whispered answers, life is as good as it can be today and YES, you know how well everything else is going and I can see your gentle loving smile and that reassuring tender look way down here as you enjoy the soft breeze on your face as you sit with Mary in your beautiful garden…Rest Peacefully Lori Ann and thank you for the blessings, gifts and prayers.
bill hale says:
January 2, 2010
HI LORI ANN, we had a wonderful Holiday season and the girls seemed very happy and we shared a bunch of laughs and smiles and memories about you and of course several of those moments of taking a deep gulp thinking about you being gone from our lives. You would have loved the house decorations and the big fresh cut Christmas tree and the fun we had decorating it. Its the start of another New Year without you in our lives and its healthy and really OK but the void remains and we all recognize it and accept it but don’t like it.Our lives are becoming filled with new and different types of joy and peace and people and we realize these are gifts you are providing for us so we can move on with our existence and experience the lives you want us to have. I think this year will be a ood year for our beautiful daughters and I expect it to be a challenging year for me. I learned so much from you about walking through challenges and I know those lessons will serve me well in the coming months. We miss you and love you and like the girls put on your headstone, YOUR SPIRIT WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US……Happy New Year sweet Lori Ann Caruso Cookie Not Just A Regular Mom But Very Cool Mom Mrs. Hale. Thank You for the guidance, memories, lessons, love and for making our lives as special as you did and do each day we take a breath..Rest Well my Angel.
bill hale says:
May 10, 2010
HELLO LORI ANN AND HAPPY MOM’S DAY. All 3 of us visited you yesterday and shared some quiet thoughts and prayers and a few laughs in our hearts. It’s 3 years today since you went home to Heaven. We miss you each day but we are all 3 doing pretty good with our new lives and refinding the meaning and joy we temporarily lost.Our grief and sadness seems to turn more and more into gentle sweet memories and amazing gratitude thatb we got to share part of our life with you. Lori, the girls are so beautiful and so special. I know you watch them and guide them but they have so many of your beautiful funny caring traits. The 3 of you would have had remarkably deep strong relationships that would have been very unique and more special than most Moms and daughters.You know about me and I’m taking each day one day at a time and doing the best I can each day and I;m feeling happy again which was a starnger for a long time. We love you and miss you and I can almost hear your tears of pride and joy for our two daughters.Cookie, you did a great job launching their lives…Rest Well and keep practicing that deep breathing….lol alot.
BILL HALE says:
September 27, 2010
HI BIRTHDAY GIRL, HAPPY 50TH IN ABOUT 11 HOURS. WOW, YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN SENIOR DISCOUNTS AT THE MOVIES AND ALSO BECOME A MEMBER OF AARP. LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE MISSING. We walked in the breast cancer walk yesterday and Katy joined me with all her pals and I saw at least 40 people who were also walking in memory of you. Your footprint remains quite vivid and very active in many people’s minds and hearts.I’m sorry Lori you are not here for so many reasons, certainly mine, but more for the girls who would have bent over backwards for their Mom’s 50th birthday ans simply loved sharing the day with you, and for that matter sharing any day with you. We had so many plans for your 50th, I will simply share a lot of private time and reflections with you tomorrow and I;m sure a few tears and a lot of laughs. Our girls are quite special, just like their Mom and our oldest is really grown up and our youngest still tries to be my little girl but it gets harder and harder for her each day and that’s OK. I think whenever I leave them they will be just fine and will have become everything and more we had hoped and prayed for. We both know what we lost and we both know what you gave me when you were here and also the gifts and special people since you left. Like so many things we shared in our life, I will be forever grateful for the ways in which you have blessed me. Happy Birthday LORI ANN, I LOVE YOU.
Michael Audley says:
April 4, 2011
Lori and family.
Just found out about this guestbook and read all 114 comments.
I’ve known Bill for close to 60 years and met you before you two decided to get married.
Lori, you and Bill brought each other alive with direct Grace from God and your two girls, Erynn and Katy are the miracles that kind of Love produces.
I know your with them and all of us in spirit and your legacy will never fade, in fact becomes brighter with time.
Bill said so well recently, “that saddness and grief turn to gentle sweet memories of gratitude.”
Your were the Woman in the Arena Lori,your humaness and humility are alive and well here.
With tons of love and respect,