Laura Hales, who turned her own quest for enlightenment on thorny issues faced by her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, into books and a podcast downloaded millions of times, died April 13 at her home in Kaysville. She was 54.
| Updated: 1:15 p.m.
The church has long been criticized by outsiders and former members for aspects of its history, doctrine and culture. But Hales, a lifelong church member, approached the subjects from “a faithful but not necessarily devotional perspective,” as she put it in the podcast’s final episode, in May. “I have been the most unlikely of podcast hosts,” she said in that final episode. “Not only do I suffer from more social anxiety than average, but also my vocal talents are limited.”“As a writer and podcaster, Laura Hales had the rare combination of being smart and personable, intellectual and approachable,” Patrick Mason, who holds the Leonard J. Arrington chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University and has written extensively on the church, said by email.
Hales earned two master’s degrees, in professional writing at New England College in New Hampshire in 2013 and in North American history at Arizona State University 2020. She and Brian Hales, who had already written several books on polygamy , married in 2013.
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