Hazel Irene Anderson

Hazel Irene Erne was born in Milbank, South Dakota to Joseph & Josephine (Tillemans) Erne on
June 8, 1920. Child number 7 in a lineup of 12 children, 3 boys and 9 girls. Four of the girls chose to join the convent and become nuns. Growing up in a house very close to the railroad tracks led to some unusual visitors knocking on their door asking for food so her mother would always give them a job like shoveling coal or some other task before she would give them some food.

Hazel attended Normal School in Mitchell, South Dakota, after graduating from Milbank High School. She work for a short time in Washington D.C. as a typist but returned to South Dakota to teach in a one room School house where she met Arthur Anderson. He moved to Bremerton but came back to Milbank to ask her to marry him. They were married at Star of the Sea Catholic Church on July 4, 1949.

She taught at Seabeck Elementary School and they lived close by in Seabeck. The snow and how much they had is what she often spoke of during that first winter here. Living so far from town did not appeal to her so they bought a small two bedroom house in Navy Yard City. After moving in they worked on the house and put a foundation under it. They started a family, having three children: Sheila, Eugene, and Clarice. During the same time the purchased a lot on Benson Lake in Mason County. The family had many vacations here while the children were growing up and she made it a priority that all three children learn to swim if they were going to have lake property.

The family then moved to Bremerton and Hazel started teaching at Star of the Sea Catholic School and also enrolled in Olympic College. After finishing at Olympic College she attended UPS College in Tacoma to get her bachelor’s degree in education. While in school and teaching they had a new house built in Silverdale where they lived until 2006. Hazel transferred to CK School District and taught first and second grade at Silverdale Elementary, Tracyton Elementary, and Clear Creek Elementary School until she retired in 1981 after 30 years in education. Sheila was the only one of the three children that had the privilege of having her mom for a teacher and complains that she got the worst grades of all her school years from her mom’s fourth grade class at Star of the Sea.

After retiring Hazel and Art flew to Hawaii and took a cruise to Alaska. She also enjoyed gardening at home and was always working on a project, pruning or moving plants. She always enjoyed seeing any of her five grandchildren and attended Perpetual Adoration at Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

Art and Hazel moved to Port Orchard to be closer to Clarice as Art’s memory declined. She joined St. Gabriel Church where she met many new friends that attended Wednesday mass and they often went to lunch afterwards. Later she moved into Stafford Suites where she was loved and cared for by the staff. Shortly before she died she had moved into Family First Adult Family Home in Gig Harbor which she thought of as her home.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society.