Hazel D. Strauch

Hazel Strauch of Chadwick, Illinois, appreciated her span of life from WWI, silent movies, horse-drawn wagons, to automobiles, airplanes, space travel and the internet. She always enjoyed the simple things in life, like talking around the dinner table. At the age of 98, Hazel passed away Thursday, February 4, 2016 at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home, Mt. Carroll.
A funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Monday, February 8, 2016 at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chadwick with Reverend Chris Schoon officiating. Burial will be in the Chadwick Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Monday at the Church. Memorials may be made to the First Evangelical Lutheran Church or the Chadwick Volunteer Fire Department.
Hazel was born May 9, 1917, in Salem Township, the daughter of Aaron and Tillie (Sack) Schneider. She grew up on the family farm, attending Daggett Country School. She was a teenager during the Great Depression and fondly remembered when her dad would hitch up a team of horses and take the family to Mt. Carroll for shopping, once a month. Mother would take eggs to town to help pay for flour, sugar, salt and yeast. She also fondly remembered the advent of silent movies with words under the pictures and Mrs. Mernice Legel playing the piano. On October 16, 1937, Hazel married Richard Strauch in Mt. Carroll. They celebrated thirty-nine years of marriage. Richard passed away November 29, 1976.
Hazel worked at General Electric in Morrison for eighteen years and Elkay in Savanna for a few years. She was a member of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chadwick, where she taught Sunday School, the American Legion Auxiliary, General Electric GEM Club and the Christian Women’s Club. She believed in helping her community and worked at the Chadwick Library, the Savanna Thrift Store and delivered Meals On Wheels.
Hazel will be dearly missed by her son, Dennis (Betty) Strauch of Mt. Carroll; two daughters, Sherie (William) Leesman of Galt, Illinois and Lindy (Craig) Iben of Clinton, Iowa; a daughter-in-law, Janice Strauch of Chadwick; twelve grandchildren; seventeen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; one brother, Richard (Evelyn) Schneider of Mt. Carroll; and one sister, Florence Smith of Mt. Carroll. Hazel is preceded in death by her husband, Richard; a son, Gary; a brother, Arthur at five years; a great grandson, Levi Leesman; and a brother-in-law, Glenn O. Smith.
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