Obit: Schultz, Hazel Augusta (1908 - 2006)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon

Surnames: Schultz, Bremer, Bush, Olson, Lastofka, Payette

----Sources: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, WI) January 18, 2006

Schultz, Hazel Augusta (April 21, 1908 - January 8, 2006)

Hazel Augusta Schultz, age 97, passed away peacefully Sunday, January 8, 2006, at Edgewood Vista Assisted Living in Duluth, MN.

Hazel was born April 21, 1908, on a farm in Greenwood, to Fred and Clara Bremer as the second oldest of six children.

Hazel led a remarkable life of 97 years. Her work ethic and ability to reach out to others was unrelenting. She was a homemaker, vast gardener and cook who could effortlessly make meals for the many hungry that dropped in on Hazel and her husband Butch. She cooked for her husband’s logging crew of 35 men for three winters in Northern Wisconsin and many summers she made the noon meal for Butch’s road construction crew throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. With this love for cooking she also worked in the Dietary Department of Midway Hospital in St. Paul, MN for 30 years.

She became an avid "flea marketer", after her years in St. Paul, and made many lifetime friends while on the flea market circuit from Florida to Wisconsin to Arizona.

As any place she lived, she enjoyed playing cards, entertaining and opening her Arizona home to friends and family. Always the gracious, spirited, fun-loving hostess, she fed us well while wintering in Tucson from 1968-1998. She continued to play cards and beat us mercilessly even after her stroke. Even confined to a wheel chair, Hazel continued to influence, love, and share her philosophy and work ethnic with us all.

Hazel is survived by her sister, Marion Bush of Neillsville; a son Robert (Jan) Schultz of Overton, NV; a daughter, Joanne (Dick) Olson, of Duluth, MN; grandchildren, Tim and Jeff Lastofka, Tom, Jim, Bill and Barb (Payette) Olson, Rob, Bolynda, Ricky and Boyd Schultz; and 15 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Earl "Butch" Schultz in 1979; a daughter, Beverly Jean infant of 11 months; granddaughter, Nancy Jean Olson in 1973; daughter, Betty Jane in 1992; and son-in-law, Robert Lastofka in 2001.

Hazel’s family sends a special thank you to the staff at Tucson Rehabilitation Center, Edgewood Vista Assisted Living in Duluth and St. Luke’s Hospital and Hospice.

A Memorial Service was held Thursday, Jan. 12, at Edgewood Vista. Memorials may be made to Edgewood Vista or St. Luke’s Hospice Care.