Author, editor, and educator Lu Ann Brobst Staheli, of Spanish Fork, Utah, passed away on February 9, 2015 after an eight-month battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband Mike Staheli and their five sons. Services will be held Thursday at noon at 820 E. Canyon Rd., Spanish Fork. A viewing will begin at 10 AM.
For more information on Lu Ann, please see her own home page/blog, her Goodreads page for a list of her books, a detailed tribute by Heather B. Moore (Heather and Lu Ann were founders and co-senior editors of the Precision Editing Group), and a recent site created by friend J. Scott Savage in order to raise money for Lu Ann’s medical bills. Scott says that the fundraising effort is still open, as the family could use the support. This interview with Tanya Mills also includes lots of information about Lu Ann’s childhood and the stories behind some of her books.
Here is a biographic sketch, based on information from those websites.
Lu Ann Brobst Staheli grew up in Indiana. She got her start as a celebrity paparazzi, especially the Osmonds, which led to her award-winning career as a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs. She graduated from the Indiana University Bloomington School of Education in 1976. She taught English and psychology at Rockville Jr. Senior High School in Rockville, Indiana, for five years before moving to Utah. In 1984, Lu Ann joined the staff at Payson Jr. High School in Payson, Utah, where she taught English, Writing for Publication, and Reading Options. After teaching for 33 years, she switched to working as school librarian. Lu Ann also holds a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology with a Library Media endorsement through Utah State University’s School of Education.
Lu Ann has earned several awards and recognitions through her teaching career, including Nebo Reading Council Reading Teacher of the Year 2006, Christa McAuliffe Fellow Utah 1999, Utah English Language Arts Teacher of the Year 1999, Excellence in English/Language Arts Instruction 1999 from the Utah Writing Project, and Celebrate Literacy Award 1996 from the Utah Council IRA. She was selected for the USWest/UtahLINK Teacher Network Project 1995, the Marquis Who’s Who in American Education for several years, and has previously been nominated for both the Disney Hand Award for Outstanding Educators and the Huntsman Awards for Excellence in Education.
In addition to teaching, Lu Ann has long served her local community. As a member of the staff at Alan Osmond Productions, Lu Ann was an Associate Producer for Stadium of Fire, a member of the Spanish Fork Arts Council, State Coordinator for the National Council of Teachers of English’s Promising Young Writers program, on the Speaker’s Bureau for the League of Utah Writers, and has been on the Middle Level and Young Adult Book Selection Committees for the Children’s Literature Association of Utah. Lu Ann has encouraged and edited the work of many Utah authors.
Lu Ann won a Utah Best of State award for secondary education and is a two-time recipient of Utah Best of State for her writing projects in young adult literature. Lu Ann’s published works include Men of Destiny: Abraham Lincoln and the Prophet Joseph Smith (Walnut Springs Press); Temporary Bridesmaid; Silver Bells Collection—A Fezziwig Christmas; Tides Across the Sea; Just Like Elizabeth Taylor; Leona & Me, Helen Marie; A Note Worth Taking; When Hearts Conjoin: The True Story of Utah’s Conjoined Twins; Psychic Madman; One Day at a Time: Teaching Secondary Language Arts; and Books, Books, and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature.
Her most highly awarded book may have been her 2013 self-published juvenile novel Just Like Elizabeth Taylor. It was a winner of the Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition, Juvenile Division in 2000. It was also a winner of the League of Utah Writer’s Juvenile Novel & Diamond Quill. It told the story of a 12-year old girl who escapes from an abusive family. It included sections set in a foster home. Lu Ann and Mike have been foster parents, and adopted all five of their boys.
Lu Ann’s articles have appeared in Grit, Byline, Scouting, Library Media Connections, and The Writer magazines, and she has published invitational essays in Teaching Secondary Language Arts K-12: It Really Works (Christopher-Gordon Publishers) and Famous Family Nights (Cedar Fort International).
We pray that Lu Ann’s friends and family will find comfort in this difficult time.