Laurie Tipling Aguirre

Laurie Allison Tipling Aguirre was born in Phoenix on April 12, 1959, the youngest child and only daughter of Lois (Miller) and Ralph M. Tipling II. She lived her entire life in Arizona, including formative years on Hopi sacred land, at the University of Arizona and across Tucson, and in Benson and Show Low. Recently, she intended to homestead in Sunizona when circumstances changed her plans. She married her true love, Emilio, on April 8, 1995, and for nearly 30 years, they weathered life’s unpredictable design—together. Laurie loved to make things grow: blooming flowers, cacti, plants, trees, birds, dogs, and, most importantly, her humans. She wrote for the Benson and Show Low newspapers, was the membership director for KXCI-FM in Tucson, chaired her neighborhood HOA, coordinated volunteers for Sunstone Cancer Support Centers, and brokered numerous goods she acquired to new homes. She connected people.

Aligned with her love for cultivation, she also enjoyed all types of music and socializing with both dog owners and everyone else. She called things like she saw them—no one ever had to wait long to know what was on her mind—but she was always willing to listen to other perspectives and to try to see it from their side, too. She was as generous with her thoughts as she was with her time and attention, and she was fiercely loyal to her friends and loved ones. All of us are better people for having known her.

Laurie was the living manifestation of the Badass Woman bracelet she wore as she courageously battled health issues over the past three years. It’s still hard to believe that she didn’t win that fight. With Emilio at her side, she passed away peacefully, shortly after midnight, on January 17, 2025. She is preceded in death by her parents, Ralph M. Tipling II and Lois (Miller) Tipling Hibbs; and by her brothers, Ralph M. Tipling III and Scott Tipling. She is survived by her devoted husband, Emilio Aguirre, and by extended family members and scores of friends. May we always find her in the reflections of light that dance across the deserts, mountains, mesas, and canyons of this place and the people she loved so much.