PIILANI NORENE FAGEN

Piilani “Lani” Norene Feiteira Fagen, age 97 April 18, 2014 - August 18, 2021 Piilani was born in Paia, Maui, Hawaii prematurely on April 18, 1924, the only child of Antonio “Tony” Marie Feiteira and Millie Victorine Paz. Saying she learned to “swim before walking,” Piilani was raised on the island until her junior year when she moved to San Diego, CA to live with an aunt to gain residency for college. She graduated from Pt. Loma High School, Class of 1942, then attended University of California - Berkeley, where she graduated in 1947 with an English/journalism/speech degree. Piilani returned to the islands and taught high school English and Journalism on the island of Lanai. A striking 6’ foot Portuguese beauty, Piilani met Marine Corp Staff Sgt. Lowell Fagen at a Honolulu Methodist Church when he was stationed at the Pacific Fleet Marine Force Headquarters’ Public Information Office in Honolulu. After his discharge, the couple had a long-distance relationship while he went back to farming in Iowa. After eighteen months, Lowell proposed and sent a ring through the mail, and the couple met in San Francisco in 1950 to get married at the Berkeley Congregational Church’s Loper Chapel near the UC Berkeley campus. The couple moved to a trailer on Lowell’s grandmother’s farm outside Perry, IA, where she became known as “Lani.” It was during this time Lowell was called back into the Marine Corps and trained at Camp Pendleton, CA before serving in Korea. After his second discharge, the couple purchased a 160-acre farm outside Earlham, IA, where they lived for 11 years, raising four children, sheep, goats, corn and soybeans. In 1966 Lani and Lowell moved to an 18-acre property on the edge of Earlham, where Lani was a substitute teacher and volunteered on the Earlham School Board, holding the position of president for several years. Lani was hired by Madison County Social Services and worked as a social worker, assisting with children, elderly and other vulnerable populations. Lani and Lowell moved to Prescott, AZ in 1987, where they lived for 31 years. Lani was involved in PEO Chapter EC – “a loving and caring group who were truly the sisters I never had” – as well as the American Sewing Guild, Mountain Spinners & Weavers and Thumb Butte Quilters, and used her sewing skills to help make costumes for the Prescott Center for the Arts. Lani and Lowell moved to Parkland Memory Care in Chandler in 2018. Lani was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Lowell Victor Fagen, 92, in 2019; she is survived by children Loren Anthony Fagen of Sande, Norway; Laurie Napua Fagen Hancock of Chandler, AZ; Lex Monroe Fagen (Ling) of Spain; and Lee Marshall Fagen (Sally Grant) of Berkeley, CA; six grandchildren: Erin Fagen of Long Beach, CA; Ryan Fagen of San Louis Obispo; Shawn Anthony Fagen of Sande, Norway; Devon James Hancock of Tempe, AZ; Samuel Grant Fagen of Berkeley, CA; and Axel Fagen of Spain; and one great grandson, Elliot Anthony Fagen of Norway. A celebration of life was held in April 2022 in Prescott.

PIILANI NORENE FAGEN

April 18, 1924 - August 18, 2021