Hansen, Hazel Charlotte 1905-1993

HANSEN, WILLITS

Posted By: Geo Clinton (email)
Date: 4/27/2016 at 20:13:42

June 29, 1993 - Storm Lake Times - Hazel Charlotte Willits was born Mar. 28, 1905 near Joy and New Boston in western Illinois. Two boys were in the family, one being born in the same area and the other brother in Galva. Ill. One sister was born in the same area as Hazel.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Willits moved to Galva, Ill. in the late 1890s. Hazel attended school in Galva and graduated from high school in 1923. She was an avid reader and was always reading books and stories. For several years she worked in the towns of Galva and Kewanee, Ill., all of her time spent in library work.

She later attended the State University of Iowa for further library training. She worked in the medical library where she met a medical college student, Russell Hansen of Newell.

After his graduation they were married, Oct. 4, 1932 and they made their home in northern Minnesota for about one year. They then moved to Kansas where their son Roger was born Apr. 3, 1935 in a hospital in Lawrence, Kan. Dr. Hansen wanted more hospital training and they moved to Elmira, New York. Following two years of hospital training they moved to Storm Lake.

This was Hazel's home from 1937 to 1992. They were blessed by the arrival of a daughter, Charlotte, on Apr. 16, 1941. That same year was a banner year as she moved into a new house near the lake. She was a regular attendant at church and taught a boys Sunday School class for several years. Not a person to socialize, she did not join a large number of clubs or groups. She was a member of the P.E.O. sisters at the time of her passing.

Her friends were true but not many and she had no enemies. Reading and the research of books was her greatest joy. She gave numerous book reviews that were complete and accurate. She loved to make scrapbooks and their beauty and neatness were superb. She seemed to dislike excessive praises or undue praises because of family status. Honesty and fairness were very important to her. She always wanted the truth.

Hazel had failing vision and progressive loss of hearing in her later years and this was a difficult problem for her. The last nine months of her life was a time of frequent illnesses and trips to the hospital. She was a very tolerant patient through difficult exams and medical treatment.

Hazel died on Thursday evening, June 24, 1993 in Macomb, Ill.