Lael W. Hill

1/26/1919 ~ 5/21/2013
The Author "was weighed into midwinter" at Ontario, Oregon, and brought to Utah two weeks later by parents Parley and Mary Hale ("Spring Time in the Rockies") Woolsey. Since then she has remained in Utah, spending all but her first few years in Salt Lake City.
From her first childish scribbles, writing has had special meaning for her, and during her growing-up years her flare for picturesque imagery, for devising intricate and unusual word patterns, and describing imaginative worlds of fancy more than compensated for any ungrantable wish she may have had. A talented artist, she was able to illustrate her own writing, another source of pleasure and fulfillment.
Since her first real sale of a poem at age fourteen, she has been winning prizes and having poems published both nationally and in England.
Married to Udell Hill, mother of four children, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother to thirteen, she has continually given intellectual delight to readers, writing poetry which combines the rich beauty of her imagination, penetrating insight and accomplished technique. In addition to attending the University of Utah, she has participated in many sessions of the University of Utah Writer's Conference as well as other professional workshop groups.
There is an elusive, word-defying quality in her poetry, just as there is about herself, which sets her apart from the crowd and makes both distinctive. "There's always been something different about you," someone wrote in her West High School yearbook. This is true. Both she and her poetry are different, unique, individual and charming.
For the last 11 years Lael has called Brighton Gardens home.
She is survived by one sister Sheila Faulkner (Bob); two brothers Mark Woolsey () and James Woolsey (Tanya); three children: Daniel, Katherine Adams (Lane), Deborah Dunn; eight grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and one expected great-great-grandchild.
Preceded in death by her son David, husband Udell, mother Maryhale Woolsey, father Parley Woolsey, sisters Enid and Vevedeen, and grandson Jonathan.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, May 29, at 12 noon at Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple, where friends and family may visit Tuesday, May 28, from 6-8 p.m., and also one hour prior to the service on Wednesday. Interment at Salt Lake City Cemetery.