She has a stuffed wild turkey mounted on her wall and a brown bearskin on the floor.
These are two of Hazel Simpson’s prize trophies from her wild-game-hunting adventures, part of the Kent woman’s long, full life.
“It’s been a wonderful life,” Hazel said at her 100th birthday party at Farrington Court last Friday. The former Auburn resident officially became a centenarian last Saturday.
“Enjoy life. It’s a wonderful thing,” she said.
Surrounded by family and friends, Hazel received a commemorative certificate for her milestone from Mayor Suzette Cooke during the special luncheon last week.
“I don’t know what to say,” Hazel told the gathering. “Everybody has been very good to me.”
A Minnesota native, Hazel grew up on a Yakima farm. In 1934, she married a Montana cowboy, Ralph, who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. After the war, the couple moved to Hobart to live on a 17-acre ranch.
Hazel and Ralph enjoyed wild game hunting in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and horseback riding. Hazel continued to ride horses into her 80s.
She worked in a Yakima cannery, a Bremerton dairy, a Ballard restaurant and at the Maple Valley Golf Course.
Hazel lived in Auburn for 15 years before moving to Kent and Farrington Court in 2009. Ralph died in 2003. They had one son, Darrel, who died several months before her husband’s death.
She has a daughter-in-law, one granddaughter, four great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
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