Lauren Elisabeth Misel

It is with so much love, joy, and also heartache, that we announce the premature heavenly birthday of our precious daughter, Lauren Elisabeth Misel, on July 18, 2023. She was born to us in this world on August 15, 1997 and our lives were forever changed.

At a young age, Lauren accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior and was an active member of Spring Hills Baptist Church. She sang in the kids choir and participated in the AWANA program where she received the Timothy Award. One of the greatest experiences of her life was traveling with other church members on a mission trip to Mexico.

Lauren was an insatiable, voracious, and profoundly gifted learner. She always pondered things deeply and had wisdom beyond her years. She would read college textbooks in a variety of subjects for fun, carefully read and edit Wikipedia entries, and spent years self-studying many foreign languages including Spanish, German, Swedish, Japanese, and Arabic. She was an active member of numerous online discussion boards and had friends from around the world.

Lauren started college classes at the age of 12 and graduated with an Associate of Science degree from Central Ohio Technical College and from Ohio Virtual Academy at 15. She then attend Miami University on a full academic scholarship where she received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Microbiology and Bioinformatics. During her years at Miami, Lauren was involved in the U-Lead Leadership program and also spent a year as a Wills Institute Scholar Leader. Through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary (SEA-PHAGES) program Lauren worked with fellow students around the globe to identify new mycobacteriophages and was even able to discover and name her own virus, Mimado. Lauren was chosen multiple times as a Choose Ohio First Scholar for the Ohio Bioinformatics Consortium and also worked as a Miami-Hughes Intern publishing CRISPR/Cas9 genome research with Dr. Chun Liang. One summer, she also had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to assist the university in their lobbying efforts.

After graduation, she lived in Columbus, Ohio where she worked first as a Data Scientist/Statistician at Franklin University and then as a Data Analyst at Vertiv on a team of American and Romanian data professionals. In her free time, she also mentored dozens of fellow data scientists on Thinkful.

Lauren loved rocks, lichen, plants, tea, coffee, cheesecake, music, Pokemon (Arcanine), roller coasters, intellectual conversation, science museums, botanical gardens, and spending time with her family. She was a hiker, a nature photographer, a writer, and a foodie. Lauren also loved to travel internationally and was blessed to have made nine trips spending time in Germany, Mexico, Finland, Greece, Spain, and England.

Lauren had a very sweet, humble, and gentle spirit and was exceptionally generous. She thought nothing of assisting others with their rent, helping a neighbor get established in a GED program and with start up costs for a small business, and providing microloans to many through Kiva, her favorite charity.

Lauren is survived by her parents, Dr. Joyce and Christopher Misel, as well as her seven younger siblings: Wade Misel, Allison Misel, Weston Misel, Hope Misel, Katherine Misel, Julia Misel, and Audrey Misel. Her grandparents, Alice S. Peterson of Athens, OH, and Orton Cash Misel III and Cheryl L. Misel of Newark, OH will also miss her greatly. She is preceded in death by her grandfather, Dr. Wesley J. Peterson. Lauren also had numerous cousins, aunts, and uncles who all loved her dearly.

A Celebration of Life service will be held in her honor on August 15th (what would have been Lauren’s 26th earthly Birthday) at Spring Hills Baptist Church in Granville, OH. Visitation hours will begin at 10 am with the service following at noon.