Meet your neighbor Laurena Hunter. She was born in Burlington, Iowa and grew up living on the Hancock/Henderson County line outside Terre Haute.
The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Jenna Clayton, Quill Reporter
Meet your neighbor Laurena Hunter. She was born in Burlington, Iowa and grew up living on the Hancock/Henderson County line outside Terre Haute.
She is the daughter of Fredrick and Frances Hunter.
When she was four years old, her family moved to a farm south of Lewiston, MO. In 1961 her father died at the age of forty-eight of a heart attack and Hunter and her mother moved back to the La Harpe area when she was in sixth grade in 1962.
She was the baby of the family, having an older brother and sister.
According to her siblings she was spoiled rotten by her parents.
There were nineteen years of age between her and her oldest brother and she was raised on a farm all her life.
The worst job she had growing up on the farm was to pick the feathers out of the chickens after her mother cut their heads off and put them in hot water. She recalls that there was nothing like the smell of a wet chicken!
Hunter graduated from La Harpe High School in 1969 and she is looking forward to attending her forty-year class reunion. She graduated from Iowa Wesleyan in 1974 with a B.A. in Recreation. In 1978 she graduated from Western Illinois University with a K-12 Physical Education degree. She returned to Western in 1986 and obtained her Masters in Sports Management in 1987.
She loves to read and is an avid golfer. She says everyone who knows her should know that she is a very big Hawkeye fan, "Black and Gold all the way!" She exclaims.
She enjoys watching her twelve-year-old twin great-nieces play softball and basketball.
And she enjoys watching her fourteen-year-old nephew play football, basketball, and baseball.
She also has twin nephews who are going to be eight and she enjoys watching them play t-ball.
Hunter has 7 nieces and nephews and 7 great-nieces and nephews total.
Hunter is the K-8th grade P.E. teacher and Athletic Scheduler for La Harpe Jr. High. She loves teaching kids, especially the children of kids she had in school when she taught at La Harpe High School. She has fun watching how the kids act so much like their parents.
She recalls a memorable time in her life as when her friend invited her to see Illinois and Iowa play.
She sat on the Illinois side and wanted very much to cheer for "her' Iowa Hawkeyes especially when they won that night.
She is also very fond of her pet 7-year-old Dachshund named KC Hans.
She says her dog is her best friend and also says, "one great thing about animals is that they will love you no matter what!"