- Date Of Birth: August 23, 1912
- Date Of Death: July 12, 2011
- State: Idaho
The Greatest of Gardeners plucked one of His prime roses on Tuesday, July 12, 2011. Hazel loved and had a magical touch with all things that grow in the earth. She also tended to man and animal kind with the same compassion and love. Her joy and purpose in life was serving God and helping others.
Hazel was born on August 23, 1912 to Ethel Beck and Willie Anderson in Delta County, TX. Her family moved frequently due to hard times, following work around TX, sometimes living in a tent. Hazel’s formal education ended with 10th grade at San Antonio where transient students were shunned. She worked to help with family finances but soon moved back to Paris. There she met Paul Jones. Sixteen at the time, she and Paul married at Hugo, OK in 1928. They lived with his mother or with her parents at various times; her first son Rano was born in Paris in Jan.1931.
She and Paul moved back with her parents, who had purchased a farm in Delta County. It was there that she divorced Paul after he abandoned the family. With no help, her father couldn’t maintain the farm and they again moved, this time to OK where her father had relatives and cheap land was available. They built a log cabin and farmed the land. There she met and married Aaron Sullivan. Aaron was a logger and they followed the saw mill throughout the OK and AK. She took in boarders to make extra money and soon had the nickname “Mammy”.
In 1943 they headed west to CA hoping to improve their lives. They both took jobs with Cal Ship as welders, building WW II Navel supply ships. Hazel’s second son Willie was born in Feb.1947. They saved enough money to buy their first home in Torrance in 1950. Hazel took a job with Van de Kamp Bakery and later accepted a position with Thrifty Mart Grocery.
Due to her strong belief in education she helped both sons attended the College of Idaho.
Hazel and Aaron moved to Caldwell in 1970, bought a home with a large parcel of land and raised a garden that fed both son’s and sister Oleta’s families.
At the age of 97, she had to give up living on her own and driving. She moved in with her granddaughter, Erin and husband, Jamey Smith.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Aaron; son, Rano; and sister, Oleta.
Hazel is survived by her son, Willie Sullivan and wife, Candy, daughter-in-law, Sarah Sullivan, all of Caldwell; grandchildren, Troy Sullivan, Jeanne Sullivan, Erin Smith and husband Jamey, Shane Sullivan, Shaun Sullivan, all of Caldwell and Sandra Sullivan of Vancouver, Washington; great-grandchildren, Ryan, Matt and Mark Sullivan and Sydney and Kelsey Smith.
The family thanks Alicia, Ermalinda, Brian, Stephanie and Jim of Horizon Home Health and Hospice for their kind and loving care.
