With obvious pride and more than a few tears, Thelma Soares on Friday awarded $12,500 in scholarship funds to the University of Utah — a gift, she said, that will honor her slain daughter, Lori Hacking, and help other women achieve their dream of an education.
"She just felt that getting an education was about the most important thing that she could do," said Soares of her 27-year-old daughter.
Soares, who was a single mother from the time Lori was about 9 years old, said her daughter always recognized that an education would empower her in such a way that she would always be able to fend for herself. Soares, a former teacher who now works for the LDS Foundation at Brigham Young University, almost always held a job when Lori and her brother Paul were children.
"I am sure Lori is looking down upon this happy occasion with her dazzling smile because she knows her scholarship will now help those in need gain an education and that was very important to Lori," Soares said.
Hacking, a University of Utah graduate, was reported missing to police on July 19 by her husband, Mark Hacking, who said his wife had not returned from a morning jog in Memory Grove. Later, Mark Hacking allegedly confessed to his two older brothers that he had shot and killed his wife as she slept, and then abandoned her body in a Dumpster on the university campus. The .22-caliber rifle Mark Hacking said he used in the shooting was allegedly dumped in a second trash container.
Police believe Lori Hacking's remains are in a landfill west of downtown. Police and cadaver dogs have made about a dozen searches of the refuse facility, sifting through some 4,200 tons of waste believed to have been dumped there July 19. To date, neither Lori's body nor anything else of evidentiary significance has been found, police said.
Suspended for three days earlier this week, the search was expected to resume Friday night at 10 p.m. and continue through the weekend, police department spokeswoman Rita Adams said.
The funds seeding the scholarship came from donations to the Hacking and Soares families that originally were intended to cover costs of the volunteer search for Lori when she first was reported missing. Money, Soares said, has come from friends, family and strangers, including contributions from Canada and other countries.
About $1,000 was donated by Angie Cardall, who walked 80 miles from her Utah County home to Memory Grove collecting donations in a bucket. And this past Wednesday, Soares said she received an envelope from a child that contained $1.10.
"I wept when I opened that envelope," said Soares, her voice breaking.
Lori Hacking graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in management from the U.'s David Eccles School of Business in December 1999. While a student she earned the university's President's Award for outstanding scholastic achievement and was the George S. Eccles Intern in Business Policy for her internship through the Hinckley Institute of Politics. She also was selected for membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma national honor society.
The scholarship will be awarded to a student entering his or her junior year of study in the school of business who has earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better, and it will fully fund the remainder of the student's education. Preference will be given to women.
"Lori in many ways has become Utah's daughter. We all feel this pain," department dean Jack Brittain said in accepting the funds. "We have many Utah daughters in our community whom this will help."
Brittain then announced that he and his wife were making their own $500 contribution to the fund. That was followed by another $725 in contributions collected on the spot from anonymous members of the business school faculty and university administration.
The funds go into an interest-bearing account, which at an amount of about $60,000 should be sustained in perpetuity, said Carolyn Buma, a development officer for the school of business. The university is continuing to accept contributions.
Susan Chesteen, one of Lori Hacking's professors, said Lori stood out from other students not just because of her high academic achievement, dedication and her desire to learn, but also because of her beauty, wonderful interpersonal skills, charm and caring attitude toward others. Hacking was enrolled in Chesteen's quality management class, which requires students to do numerous hours of community service as part of a class project on product development and improvement.
"Lori contributed unique ideas and exceptional guidance to her team and was absolutely dependable and responsible for the required tasks," said Chesteen.
After the ceremony a poster of the scholarship announcement, penned with messages from business school students, staff and administrators, was presented to Soares.
With a smile and another burst of emotion, Soares said, "Oh, thank you. Lori would love this."
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com
Contributions can be made to:
Lori Kay Soares Hacking Memorial Scholarship Fund
University of Utah Development Office
201 Presidents Circle, Room 302
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
More information is available from Carolyn Buma, 801-581-5255, or at www.ugive.utah.edu or www.rememberlori.com.