Elsie Hazen

  Funeral services will be held on Monday November 6, 2017 at 1:00 PM at the Bethel Assembly of God Church in Thedford with Pastor Tim Hazen officiating.  Burial will be in the Brownlee Cemetery.  Visitation will be held on Monday before service time at the Bethel Assembly of God Church in Thedford, NE. Elsie Sharon Howell Hazen was born to Myrl Howell and Sula Fern Allphin Howell on April 24, 1934 in her Great Aunt Nell's home in Thedford, Nebraska.  She was the youngest of six children: Jim, Alice, Jack, June, and Tom.  She went to heaven October 30, 2017.  She was being cared for by Ascera Care Hospice and the gentle hands of the Parkside Nursing Home staff in Stuart, Nebraska. Elsie married James Hazen on December 23, 1950 in Thedford, Nebraska.  They had 6 children: Shirley, Steve and Dave born in Nebraska and Nancy, Tom and Tim born in California.  Jim had wanted to go to Bible school so they moved to California in 1955.  She and Jim mentioned many times how thankful they were that all 6 of their children and spouses are serving the Lord.  She sold Avon for 25 years with her children and grand children receiving a lot of Avon over the years. Her fondest childhood memories were of riding horses, helping her Dad and brothers on the Ball ranch outside of Thedford, her pet antelope in Bend Oregon and swimming in 'Big Deep' in Thedford.  She lived most of her growing up years in Thedford with a couple of years spent in Ventura, California.  She traveled with her mom, Grandma Fern, to various resorts where Grandma was hired as cook and sometimes laundress.  Yellowstone and Bend Oregon were a couple of the places she lived during this time. Her sister June was always mentioned when talking about her younger life.  "Even though she was 7 years older, June always included me in her many activities - like the movies"  She and her brother Tom would play a lot of card games and Monopoly together.  She would tell the story of how they had a cat that would rattle the door knob to get back in.  Tom would act like he was ignoring the cat, but would continue reading while he would walk over to the door and let the cat in - all the while pretending he couldn't stand the cat. Through her life, she loved to read, travel, sing and swim (even in freezing cold water).  As a family we traveled to Nebraska from California every summer.  We would sing our way across the country - each learning 'parts' as we grew older.  Grandma Fern would sing melody, Mama sang tenor, Daddy sang bass and all of us would join in. Just like the song.  The last few months of her life she began to color and even had her own Facebook page - much to the surprise of her grand children.  She loved being able to stay in contact with her loved ones through social media. She was preceded in death by her parents, 2 sisters - Alice and June, 2 brothers - Jim and Jack, and 1 great granddaughter - Eisley Winter. She leaves her beloved husband Jim, 6 children and spouses, 14 grandchildren, 31 great grandchildren, 1 brother, and many loved nieces and nephews.  Her Lord and family were most important all through her life. She led her children to God and helped them grow in their relationship with Jesus.  In the last year of her life, she made sure to send birthday cards to all, along with some of her pictures she had such a fun time coloring. We mourn the loss of our wife, mother, grandma, great grandma, sister and aunt but know she is now free of pain and seeing all those who have gone to heaven before her.