Leila Cordell Campbell

Leila Cordell Hansen was born at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, 1935. She was the second of two children of Charlie and Anna Hansen of Rural Route #2 in Exira, Iowa. Exira, then a town of about 1,000 souls, now closer to 800, is 10 miles of rolling farmland east of Elk Horn, a slightly smaller, Danish-American enclave where Leila’s future husband had just turned 5 years old.

The Hansens soon moved 20 miles south to Atlantic, which with about 6,000 people (7,000 now) was and is one of the largest towns between Des Moines and Omaha. Leila grew up on a farm just outside of town, where her parents raised chickens and cattle and grew feed corn. She entered nurse’s training after high school, and worked as a registered nurse for more than half a century.

In 1956, Leila married Philip Petersen, a Korean War veteran who was the first member of his family to earn a bachelor’s degree, from Dana College, a now-defunct Lutheran school in Blair, Nebraska. They had two children: Kirk, born in 1958, and Julie, born in 1960.

Philip parlayed his business administration degree into a credit reporting job with Dun & Bradstreet, which sent the family to the company’s office in Topeka, Kansas. After both children were born in Kansas, Philip transferred to D&B’s Albuquerque office in 1963, where the dry New Mexico air would be kinder to his respiratory system. Leila then lived in Albuquerque for the remaining six decades of her life. She worked primarily night shifts at Bataan Memorial Hospital and later Anna Kaseman and Presbyterian hospitals, specializing in intensive care, cardiac care and substance-abuse nursing.

Leila and Philip divorced in the late 1970s, and in 1980 she married William Campbell, with whom she lived until his death in 2015.

Leila developed a large and loving network of friends through her church, her knitting group, and later at her assisted-living facility. Her faith sustained her throughout her life, and she was blessed with two opportunities to visit Israel in her 80s, accompanied by church members who helped her cope with mobility issues.

Leila passed away peacefully at about 1 a.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025, at the age of 90. She is survived by her son, Kirk Petersen, of New Jersey; her stepson, Amos Campbell, of Arizona; two grandsons; a step-great-grandson; and by a local surrogate daughter, who with her husband provided unwavering local love and support for three decades. Leila was predeceased by her daughter, Julie Petersen; by her husband, William Campbell; and by her ex-husband, Philip Petersen.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 18 at Washed By the Word, 4228 Carlisle Blvd., Albuquerque. Interment will be private.