Hazel Marie Speer

Hazel Marie (Whittington) Speer of Hanover Illinois

Hazel Speer passed away on January 27,2024 at the age of 102. The funeral service will be held at 12pm on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at the Hanover United Presbyterian Church. The burial will be in the Log Church Cemetery, off of Blackjack Road, Hanover. A visitation will be held from 10am - 12noon Saturday, February 3, 2024, prior to the service at the Church.

Hazel was born May 10, 1921 in Greene Township Illinois to Laurel (Sullivan) and Clifford Whittington. She graduated from Viola High School in 1938. Hazel married Raymond D. Speer on May 1, 1943 in Galesburg, Illinois. She learned how to be a farmer's wife while raising their seven children. Hazel helped with milking cows, raising pigs and chickens, and doing field work. She canned meats and vegetables from her large garden and she had a cool cellar to store apples and vegetables. She enjoyed looking for arrowheads, fossils and unique rocks while working in the fields. At several different times Hazel worked as a forklift operator at the Savanna Army Depot where she loaded munitions in railway cars and moved pallets from bunker to bunker. She enjoyed fishing, whether from a boat or the bank of a river, and camping. She had a love for horses and she passed down this love to her daughters. In her early marriage she could be found frequently with a camera around her neck taking pictures of friends, family and nature. She developed these in a closet under the stairs until her children learned how to open the door to that closet ruining her developing photographs.

Hazel was highly creative in many different mediums. She enjoyed painting on canvas or on the inside of eggshells. She made "pet" rocks, created jewelry out of ocean sea glass,used seashells to make figures, worked with ceramics, made items out of paper mache, created items out of wood (toys, planters,toy boxes, and picture frames). She even created a large cement frog (over a chicken wire frame) to add to the park by the family pond for the grandkids to play on. She dedicated the most time to drawing, painting and working with stained glass. Some of her stained glass art can be seen in the windows at Stronghold Center in Oregon IL, the United Presbyterian Church and the St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Hanover. Many homes of her friends and family also have her stained glass creations on display. Thanks to her teaching and her passion, many family members will continue to create beautiful works in stained glass.

The dining room table was used for more than meals. It was where you could play cards, games, do crossword puzzles, or the all time favorite... watching her birds at the feeders by the porch. She was a substitute for three different Bridge card clubs for many years: one in Hanover and two in Savanna. She passed on a love of games to her family, friends and even their friends. Her family continues this tradition. If they play cards in Heaven, that is where she will be spending any free time she is given. Hazel left a legacy of love, laughter and creativity behind. She will be missed by all who knew her, but especially by her family who loved her so dearly.

Hazel is survived by six children: James Speer (Mary Jo), Laurel Brooks (Greg Motl), Dan Speer (Nancy), Dwight Speer, Peggy Speer, Mary Bailey (Tony). She is also survived by her sister Betty Slaymaker, 17 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren and by many other friends who loved her.

Preceding her in death were her parents Laurel and Clifford Whittington, her husband of 61 years Raymond Speer, her daughter Kathy Parkhurst (Orie), her daughter Peggy's son Richard Moldenhauer, her brother Glen Whittington (Francis) and her sister Vivian Edgerton (Earl).