Hazel Sheets, age 98 passed away on November 28, 2019.
Funeral services will be Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 10:30 am at the Arnold United Methodist Church with Pastor Bill Williams officiating. Burial will be in the Arnold Cemetery. Memorials may be given to the Arnold United Methodist Church, the Arnold Rescue Department, or donor’s choice. A visitation will be held on Friday, December 6, 2019 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, with family greeting 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Arnold United Methodist Church in Arnold, NE. Arnold Funeral Home/Govier Brothers Mortuary are in charge of arrangements. Words of encouragement or remembrance may be left at www.govierbrothers.com.
Hazel Flyr Sheets was born May 9, 1921 in Long Pine, NE to Wilke Henry and Anna Margaret (Lammers) Flyr, the 9th of 11 children. Raised on a farm near Long Pine, she graduated from Long Pine High School in 1938. She became a country teacher at age 17, so some of her students were nearly as old as she. Frosty Ferguson was one of her students.
She continued to teach in German Valley School near Brewster, NE, after she married Wiley Sheets May 21, 1942. Wiley’s son David lived them some, both at Brewster and at Arnold, and Wiley’s daughters Marjorie and Dorothy were there often. In 1942 Wiley used his ’41 Ford coupe as down payment on a farm in Mills Valley, north of Arnold, NE. To this union were born Kenneth Ray in 1945, Darrel Wayne in 1946, and Jeane Leann in 1949.
As were so many in her generation, Hazel was “one tough lady”. She helped milk cows for 27 years, plus raised chickens, gardened, and helped tend cattle and hogs. She also worked for several years in The Arnold Sale Barn office, and she really enjoyed that. She was active in Rebekah Lodge, Handy Anns Extension Club, and the Arnold United Methodist Church, where she helped with VBS, WSCS, and the annual smorgasbord.
In 1969 Wiley and Hazel bought a house in Arnold, where she resided until 2016, then she sold that and moved to Riverview Apartments. Much to the consternation of other Arnold residents, at age 95 Hazel renewed her drivers license for 5 years. On September 26, 2018, the same day her son Kenneth died, her health forced her to move to a nursing home, in Gothenburg, NE where Jeane’s family could visit her more often. She died there on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2019.
Hazel was a good cook. When veterinarians Nelms and Dudley came to help work cattle, they “expected” fried chicken and all fresh pie – and maybe cinnamon rolls. She often made cinnamon rolls and/or noodles for Christmas presents. Those rolls were often used as a bribe, too!
Hazel was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, seven brothers, three sisters, her son Kenneth, two sons-in-law, two grandsons, and several nieces and nephews.
Survivors are David of Loveland, CO, Marjorie Maller of Oakland, Dorothy Larreau of Arnold, Darrel (Teruko) of Reynoldsburg, OH, and Jeane (Steve) Breuer of Gothenburg. She is also survived by 18 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren, 50 great-great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
