HULL, La Verne (Keettel) 1907-1980

HULL, HILL, KEETTEL

Posted By: Errin Wilker
Date: 2/17/2013 at 19:36:25

Mrs. Leslie. K. (La Verne) Hull of St. Petersburg, FL., died there Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Born Oct. 25, 1907 in Lyons, NE, she leaves a daughter Sarah, Mrs. David D. Hill of St. Petersburg, two grandsons, Peter and Brian Hill, also of St. Petersburg, and one brother, Dr. W.C. Keettel of Iowa City. Her parents, Dr. and Mrs. W.C. Keettel, her husband, Leslie K. Hull, and twin sons, John and Tom Mark Hull, preceded her in death.

She graduated from the Lyons, NE, high school, and majored in journalism at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. Following graduation she worked on various weekly papers, including the Wayne, NE, Herald, and the Holdrege, NE, Citizen.

The Hulls were married in Nebraska April 29, 1933, and founded, The Waverly (IA) Journal, which the Hull families operated until 1945. At that time they purchased existing newspapers in Waukon, consolidating them into twice-a-week form as they exist today. They retired in 1962.

Mrs. Hull had been a columnist since the early 1930s, continuing her columns throughout her life on the various papers where she was employed. She had been an officer in the now defunct Iowa Columnists association, and a charter member of Iowa Press Women. She was also a member of Theta Sigma Phi, honorary for women in journalism, of Chi Delta Phi and Vestals of the Lamp at the University of Nebraska. She was also a long-time member of American Association of University Women, and belonged to the St. Petersburg branch at the time of her death, as well as Friends of the Library and the Museum of Fine Arts.

A 50-year member of the Order of Eastern Star, she was also a member of the Browning club, which she joined in 1945, serving at various times as an officer. While residing in Waukon, the Hulls were members of Grace Episcopal Church at Decorah.

She had made a number of trips to Europe as well as traveling extensively in the United States. She moved to St. Petersburg in 1977, resigning at that time as a member of the board of trustees at Waukon Veterans Memorial hospital.

Having bequeathed her body to medical science, no funeral service was held. A family memorial mass was said at St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral in St. Petersburg, where she was a communicant, and simultaneously there was a mass of resurrection at St. Patrick’s Catholic church in Waukon. Any memorials may be directed to the Waukon municipal library, which she served as a trustee for many years.

Source: 1980 Newspaper Clipping