Laurie M. Flanders

Laurie Marie Flanders, 55, died Sept. 4, 2010 at home in Wasilla of cancer.

A service will be held 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25 at the American Legion Post 35, Mile 46 Parks Hwy.

Laurie was born Jan. 1, 1955 in Chicago, Ill. She moved to Alaska in 1981 and resided in Anchorage until she moved to the Mat-SuValley in 1996. Laurie taught at and co-owned Alaska Vocational Medical Trainers since 1996, teaching phlebotomy.

Laurie enjoyed hunting, fishing and drag racing. Most of all she enjoyed being Nana to her grandchildren, her family wrote.

“Laurie was a real firecracker, a big bang in a small package with a heart the size of Alaska,” her family wrote. “She was so many things to many people, but most of all she was loved by all who truly knew her. She was passionate about many things. The love she shared with Mikell, the protective and nurturing love for her daughters, the overwhelming love she felt for her grandchildren and the love of her true friends. She was as down to earth as anyone we knew, she called it as she saw it, good or bad, usually done out of love, which was why so many thought of her as a second mother. We will miss you mom.”

Laurie is survived by Mikell Welsh, the love of her life and partner in crime for the past 25 years, daughters Michele Knowles and Stephanie Flanders, grandchildren Dustie, Willow and Derek, and son-in-law Jason.

Arrangements are with Legacy Funeral Homes — Kehl’s Palmer Chapel.