Carl Hurst Haenni
October 21, 1932 - July 6, 2019

Virginia Beach ~ Carol Hurst Haenni (86) was born in Fillmore, Missouri on October 21, 1932.

She passed peacefully on July 6, 2019 after a series of debilitating illnesses. A beautiful team of loving caretakers, from Hands on Staffing, blessed her for nearly a year with such tender loving care for which the family is so grateful.
Carol’s life was inspirational to all who knew her as her enthusiasm, kindness and education allowed her to be of meaningful service to people from all walks of life. She was always ready to help people in distress who came into her awareness. Carol was deeply passionate about the plight of Native American children on reservations and donated heavily to various schools for them.

Carol was predeceased by her husband Paul just 3 days after their 66th anniversary. She is survived by her son Rodney Haenni (Ann) and daughter, Suzanne Crismore. Her surviving sisters, Doris Franklin and Iola Arn, both live in St. Joseph, Missouri. Two surviving sisters-in-law, Minnie Haenni and Niki Lee Hurst live in Savannah, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama, respectively. “Grammy’s” deeply beloved grandchildren are Hannah and Benjamin Crismore. “Aunt” Carol dearly loved her nephews, nieces and many grand nieces and nephews who live across the United States.
Carol and Paul, adopted a Vietnamese family of 6 in the mid 1970’s, providing shelter and help to them until they could adapt to their new country and become successful, independent and proud Americans. In their mid- 40’s, Carol and Paul became foster parents of 11 babies over the course of a year, loving those babies as their own and rejoicing in seeing each of them adopted by new loving families. They welcomed into their home a Taiwanese FSU grad student, Jessie Wu, and a French, AFS exchange high school senior, Veronique Pascual, who along with the courageous Vietnamese family immediately became forever members of our family.

Even as her own children attended Colorado College and FSU, Carol worked earnestly to obtain a PhD in English from Florida State University after persistently continuing her education during family moves from California to Missouri to Florida. She taught English at the high school and college level for many years and thoroughly enjoyed exposing her students to the seminal works of English and American literature. Carol deeply loved the academic world, both as a teacher and as a student, also utilizing her expertise as a member of the Board of Directors of Tallahassee Community College. Her life was truly well-lived and well-traveled. She will always be very fondly remembered by all of her dear friends and family. Already she is so profoundly missed!!

A celebration of Carol’s compassionate life will be held on Saturday, August 3 at 3 p.m. at Francis Asbury United Methodist Church, 1871 N. Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454. The family will receive friends between 2-3 p.m. Any memorial to the church will be a blessing to its community work.