Louise Marie (Fifelski) Alflen, died Wednesday, June 19, 2024, at the age of 94 in Paso Robles, Calif.

Born on Christmas Eve in 1929 on Grand Rapids’ west side, she attended Sacred Heart church and school before the family moved to Moline. She graduated from Wayland High School in 1947 and married her beloved Eddie in 1948.

Besides raising their five children, they ran the family auto business for 30 years on North Main Street. She sang in both the St. Therese (Wayland MI) and St. Bridget (Mesa AZ) church choirs, and enjoyed being a member of the “Canasta Club”. She was a voracious reader, and loved traveling, including Lake Leelanau, Hawaii, and “out west.”

After retiring from the auto dealarship business, she and Eddie were avid RV campers for many years.

When Eddie passed in 2001, she went back to college and earned her bachelor’s’ degree in history in 2007 and her masters’ (Summa Cum Laude) in 2011 at Arizona State University.

Louise moved from Arizona to California to live with daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Jon. She missed the cultural life of metropolitan Phoenix but came to enjoy the slower pace of small-town California (although she still said it was “too cold”).

One of her much-loved professors wrote, upon learning of her passing:

“Louise was indeed a good friend over many years. But she was also something of a wonder in terms of her growth and development. She was intellectually curious to the end, philosophically shrewd, and always on the quest, irrespective of her advanced age. When will we meet someone like that again? “

She was predeceased by her parents, Joseph and Florence, her husband Edwin, and her great-grandson Mitchell.

She is survived by her five children, six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren: Amy, Edwin John (and Cassie), Linda (and Don), Melanie (and Jim), and Elizabeth (and Jon); grand children Sarah (and Dave) and Anderson, Jessica (and Jeff); Molly (and Mitch) and Anja; Katie (and Cameron), and Thomas, Graham and Genevieve; James (and Krista), and Caroline and Lincoln; and Phil (and Lindsey), and Lucy and Finn.

In lieu of flowers, please consider supporting your local literacy council.