Laurel LaRue Liddell, daughter of Glen Bernard and Esther Ruth (Larsen) Williams, was born on October 29, 1932, in Primghar, IA. She passed away on October 19, 2024, at the Good Samaritan Society in Red Oak, IA, at the age of 91 years, 11 months, and 20 days.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 1:30 PM at the Griswold United Methodist Church in Griswold. An open visitation will be held at the Rieken Duhn Funeral Home in Griswold on Friday, October 25, 2024, from 1:00 PM until 6:00 PM. Interment will follow in the Pleasant Township Cemetery. Rieken Duhn Funeral Home in Griswold is assisting the family with arrangements.
Laurel moved to Griswold with her mother, where she grew up and graduated from Griswold High School with the class of 1950. She was a Griswold United Methodist Church member and married Russel Dean Liddell there on July 18, 1950. The children completing the family were Scott Murray, Glenda Sue, and Mark Allyn. They farmed around the Elliott and Griswold area all their married years and purchased their home place in 1962.
Laurel belonged to several neighborhood clubs and the Tuesday Music Club from 2003 to 2014, serving as secretary for ten years. She loved music and enjoyed playing her saxophone with several dance bands throughout high school, the Route 48 Band and the Iowa Western Community Band. For many years, she also enjoyed writing news for the Griswold American, Atlantic News Telegraph, and the Red Oak Express.
Laurel inherited her love of animals from her father, Glenn, and rescued many dogs, cats, and even a tiny squirrel after a storm. She began rescuing stray dogs at age six, and it continued for the rest of her life, never paying a penny for any of them. Many dogs just appeared and stayed for the rest of their lives.
She taught herself how to sew and crochet and made many clothes for the family. She also enjoyed making various crafts and showing and selling them at craft shows. She loved drawing and painting, which she gave as gifts for the family and sold professionally.
Laurel is preceded in death by her husband Russel, her father Glenn Williams, her mother Esther Bishop, her stepfather Charlie Bishop, her father-in-law J.A. Liddell, and her mother-in-law Margaret Liddell. She is survived by two infant sons, Dennis James, and Brendon Lee, her adopted brother Allen Williams, her niece Kathy Houser Nevelyn, and her in-laws, Marion and Jean Houser, Duane Liddell, and Marilyn and Harold Brunk.
Her children survive her: Scott Liddell and special friend Polly Wilson, Glenda Coughlin and husband Bruce, and Mark Liddell and wife Amy; grandchildren: Samantha Beeson and husband Ryan, Hannah Stensrud and husband Chad, Molly Payne and husband Jake, and Alex Thomas; great-grandchildren: Tyler, AJ, Stella, Ava, Benjamin, Axel, Waylon and Tate; sister-in-law Norma Liddell; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.
