Glorene Welker, age 89, passed away peacefully on April 12, 2017, surrounded by her loving family.
She was born May 7, 1927 in Thatcher, Arizona, to Lorenzo Cutler and Nancy Lemmon Cutler, and was raised in her beloved hometown.
Glorene graduated from Thatcher High School in 1945, where she was the marching band majorette. She married Max Hundley in 1945 and had six children together which they raised in Paonia, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mesa, Arizona. After Max’s death in 1976, she began work at Mesa Public Schools as the district’s enrollment specialist until her retirement in 1993.
Glorene was full of energy and life, and loved those around her with a Christ-like love. She taught through example, working hard in life as her pioneer father had taught her. She always showed tremendous gratitude for her blessings in life, and gently showed others how to do the same.
She was an active and faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, serving in many callings including primary teacher, YW president, relief society president, and as a temple worker in the Mesa and the “Thatcher” Temple – as she loved to call it.
In 2001, she married her high school friend Lavell Welker, returning to her hometown and rekindling many wonderful relationships in the Gila Valley. She and Lavell would daily make their trip to the farm and visit friends nearby, and of course end the day with a Suns or Diamondbacks game on television.
She was preceded in death by: her son, Robert Hundley. She is survived by: her loving husband, Lavell; five children, twenty-nine grandchildren, and sixty great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Glorene will be conducted Saturday morning, April 15, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., at the Gila Valley Institute of Religion, in Thatcher, by Bishop Tom Palmer of the Thatcher Seventh Ward. Concluding services will follow in the Thatcher Cemetery.
The family will receive friends Saturday morning from 9:00 a.m. until 9:45 a.m., at the Gila Valley Institute of Religion. Arrangements are entrusted to Vining Funeral Home.
