Lee Eldon Hobel

Lee Eldon Hobel, 93, of Fayetteville, was born Oct. 18, 1922, the third son of five born to Lizzie Hubler and Emil Samuel Hobel at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he received his high school diploma. Lee enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served in the Pacific during WWII. During those years he also enlisted in God's army. After the war he attended Chicago Evangelistic Institute, graduated from Bethany College in Oklahoma, followed by some years of study at Pasadena College in California and Le Tourneau College in Texas. He was an avid reader and loved God's Word and history. His life verse was II Corinthians 1:20, "For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, to the glory of God through us." He married Helen Achenbach Siefken on Dec. 25, 1950. To this family was added sons David and Stephen. Moving with his family, they were missionaries in Hong Kong for four years, where their third son, Mark, joined the family. Returning to the U.S. he pastored in Anamosa, Iowa and Arkansas. Locally he was active in child evangelism and worked as a printer for University Baptist Church for several years. After living in Arkansas for 48 years he claimed his heavenly citizenship on June 10, 2016. Borrowing from Ben Franklin's epitaph: The body of Lee Hobel – printer and book lover, he rests here like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering gilding, lies here, returned to dust. But the work shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, corrected and improved by "The Author". He was preceded in death by two brothers, Richard and W.J. "Bill". Surviving are his wife, Helen; sons, David and special friend Shanna, Stephen and wife Sherry, and Mark; and two brothers, John of Iowa, and Emil of Texas. A graveside service will be 10 a.m. Monday, June 13, at Farmington Cemetery. Arrangements are with Heritage Funeral Home.