Laura Franz Hiebert

Laura Franz Hiebert was born November 16, 1925, in Hillsboro, Kansas. Her father Leonard J. Franz served as superintendent of schools and later as the president of Tabor College; her mother Helen Reimer Franz was a community and church leader. Her older sister Elfrieda, a musician, died in 2012. Laura held an M.Ed. with a specialty in gifted education, a program she helped develop in Geneva, Illinois and for the Traverse City, Michigan schools. Earlier, she received her A.B. degree from Bethel College in Newton, Kansas and went on to graduate study at the University of Kansas and Columbia University in New York. She taught elementary school in Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Illinois before moving to Michigan. She later served as Assistant to the Music Director of Interlochen Arts Academy, her final educational position. After a lifetime of traveling and living abroad herself, she made a special point of caring for the needs of international students who came to Interlochen for study. Laura was married to Dr. Talmadge G. Hiebert for more than 72 years and assisted her husband in his research and medical administrative work for 16 years in Ann Arbor, Michigan and prior to that in his research work in Washington, D.C. He died in Traverse City in 2019. She had three sons: Franz, an environmental consultant; Fredrik, an archaeologist, and Rudi, a scientist and aviation instructor. She is survived by her children, her 3 daughters-in-law, her 5 grandsons, and 3 great-grandchildren. In her retirement, she was an active volunteer for her church, especially in the homeless mission of Central Methodist Church, at the Dennos Museum at Northern Michigan College, and for the Michigan Democrats. She died quietly on August 14, 2023, surrounded by family and loving caregivers in hospice care at French Manor in Traverse City.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 16 , 2024 at United Methodist Church in Traverse City, Michigan (222 Cass St, Traverse City, MI). The family will be at the church at 1PM to meet those attending and the service begins at 2 PM.
The service will be livestreamed by Central United Methodist Church. Please visit their website for more information: https://www.tccentralumc.org/