Laurel (Soderborg) Cundick

Click below to listen to the funeral service. Available until August 15, 2017.

Our dear Laurel stepped through the veil on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2017, wrested from us by leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 15, 1952 to Alvin Charles and Afton Romney Soderborg, Laurel was—as her sixth grade award from Sherman Elementary noted—“an excellent example of a lady at all times.” Wherever she went she made lifelong friends—from her Young Women’s group in Rosecrest Ward, to Skyline High, to Brigham Young University, to Washington, DC (where she served as an aide to Senator Patrick Leahy) to countless Young Women’s and Relief Society callings. At gatherings Laurel made special effort to seek out each individual and make them feel appreciated, loved, and accepted.  She had a gift for making everything fun. No camp or trek will be quite the same without her infectious and unconstrained laughter, which carried far and wide both day and night.

In 1987 she was introduced by a mutual friend to Robert Cundick, Jr. (Robb). On a Christmas trip to New York City they were inspired by a Broadway play to make the jump “Into the Woods,” after which they hurried to Tiffany’s for a ring and then made the engagement official on a carriage ride through Central Park. Three months later they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Although faced with tragedy at both the beginning (a stillborn baby) and the end, they were blessed with an unusually happy union and anxiously await a blissful reunion in the life to come.

Laurel is preceded in death by her parents and son, Charles Ross. She is survived by her husband, Robb, her children, Ben, and Emma (Stephen) Petersen as well as loving step-children Joel (Kristin) Cundick, Bryce (Denisa) Cundick, Gretel (Will) Cosman and ten grandchildren. Also siblings Kathy (Martin) Vander Veur, Lynne (Ken) Dawson, Mark (Paula) Soderborg, Lee (Karen) Soderborg, Gayle (Dan) Roberts, and Eric Soderborg.

Services will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday, May 17, at the East Millcreek Stake Center, 3103 East Craig Dr. (approximately 3600 South) in Salt Lake City. Viewing on Tuesday, May 16 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Holbrook Mortuary, 3251 South 2300 East, Salt Lake City and at the stake center from 9:30 to 10:30 am prior to services on Wednesday.

Special thanks to Dr. Anna C. Beck of Huntsman Cancer Institute and to hospice nurse, Susan, and her colleagues at Community Nursing Services for their compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to HCI in Laurel’s name.  Online messages to the family can be made at www.holbrookmortuary.com.