Hazel Dunlap Neill

Hazel Dunlap, eighth child of Ira and Cora Dunlap, was born on the family farm near Hardy, Oklahoma on March 7, 1912. She passed away at Southeast Colorado Hospital in Springfield, Colorado on September 13, 2008. When she was five years old, she moved with her family to the ranch on Carrizo Creek in southwest Baca County. She grew up here, attending the country school and walking two miles for her eight years of schooling. After finishing eighth grade she attended Springfield High School, graduating in 1930. She attended Colorado Teachers College in Greeley, Colorado where she received her teaching certificate. She taught in various schools in Baca County, teaching her last two years in the Walsh Elementary School. In 1942 she started working at the First National Bank in Springfield for Bowers Holt and Harve McKinnis. Many of these years she and Betty Nutt shared an apartment. In 1950 she was married to Bernard Neill and they moved to the family farm south of Vilas. She enjoyed farm life, cooking for hands and working in her big yard where she had many beautiful flowers. She also enjoyed watching their crops grow. One year their wheat made 100 bushels per acre. During her years on the farm she attended Sandy Soil Church of Christ and was baptized in a tank at the Nidey farm. Bernard and Hazel sold the irrigated portion of the farm and built their new home south of Springfield in 1981. Here again she enjoyed her yard and flowers as well as her beautiful crystal dishes and the many beautiful quilts she made. Hazel continued to live in this home until a few hours before her death and she received the very best of care for six years from Glenice Wade and her team. Hazel's neighbors, Robbie and Cindy Patterson and their daughters were special friends to Hazel. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bernard; by her parents, three brothers and three sisters. Surviving her are three sisters, Lida Mae Osteen and Millie Nidey of Springfield and Thelma Richardson of Campo. She also has a brother-in-law and one sister-in-law, a number of nieces and nephews and a host of friends. Although she lived 96 plus years, her family will miss her but still have many happy memories of her childhood growing up in the big family.