Clearfield native Col. Laurel Hummel retires from Army after 30-year career
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Clearfield native, Col. Laurel J. Hummel, retired June 1 from the U.S. Army after a 30-year active duty career.
Commissioned in 1982 from the U.S. Military Academy, Hummel served 20 years in the field of military intelligence before being selected as academy professor of geography at West Point.
She served in a variety of locations including Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Seoul, South Korea; Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; Carlisle,; and West Point, N.Y. Her last position was as senior U.S. academic advisor to the National Military Academy of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Hummel was honored in a retirement ceremony and reception at West Point April 27, with Brigadier General Margaret Burcham, a West Point classmate and commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as presiding officer. Guests included Gay Hummel, Barbara Woolridge, Sidney and Cecilia Kyler, and Scott and Lisa Boyle from Clearfield, and former Clearfield residents Rebecca Hallstrom of Framingham, Mass.; Kristina Hallstrom-Porth of Agawam, Mass.; Donald Turley Jr. of Washington, D.C.; Maureen Rowles Wirth of Aurora, Colo.; and Vernon Rowles of Harrisburg.
During their time at West Point, Hummel and her husband, Lieutenant Col. Chad Parker, sponsored numerous West Point cadets, including four from Clearfield: Captain Derek Yohe, Class of 2004; Stephanie Manos, Class of 2005; First Lieutenant Matthew Kyler, Class of 2010; and Cadet Shay Flanagan, Class of 2013.
In addition to a bachelor's degree from West Point, Hummel holds the degree of Master of Science in geography from Penn State, Master of Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska- Anchorage, Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and a doctorate in geography from the University of Colorado.
Hummel is a 1978 graduate of Clearfield Area High School, and a daughter of the late Sergeant First Class (retired) Gordon E. Hummel and Gay Hummel.
The Hummel-Parkers are relocating to Anchorage, Alaska, where LTC Parker will take command of the 297th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade of the Alaska Army National Guard.
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