Hazel I. Ivey

Hazel Irene Robbins Svadlenak Ivey of Austin, Texas died on June 17, 2011 at the age of 86 years, of Alzheimer’s Disease. Hazel was born June 23, 1924 in Abilene, Texas.

She was the sole-surviving member of her immediate family. Pre-deceasing her were her parents Elmer & Eunice Robbins; her sisters, Alva, Frances & Maxine; and five brothers, E.B., Jack, Jim, Ray & J.N. Robbins.

Hazel was raised in several west Texas towns and graduated from Portales High School (New Mexico) at age sixteen. Her parents were share-croppers. She loved to learn, enjoyed school, and excelled at Eastern New Mexico State University until World War II interrupted her studies after two years of college. She went to work at Morton Army Air Force Base in Fort Sumner, New Mexico as a stenographer, along with many of her college girlfriends.

Hazel married Stanfield Steve Svadlenak of Taylor, Texas on March 7, 1944 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. She was part of that greatest generation, staying with her newborn daughter while Stan shipped out to the Philippines and Tokyo in 1945.

After World War II, they moved to Texas where Stan managed the Texas Employment Commission and owned and operated a farm south of Taylor. Hazel was an at-home mother of daughter, Jean E., and son, Stephen. Their wonderful marriage of 32 years ended with Stan’s sudden death of a heart attack in 1976, making Hazel a widow at age 52.

Hazel went back to work in 1959. She worked for Southland Life Insurance Company, Taylor Bedding Manufacturing Company, Taylor Soil Conservation Office, and finally as an Analyst for the Treasury Department at the Internal Revenue Service in downtown Austin, Texas. She retired from Federal service in 1979.

In 1979, she married Gerald Coleman Ivey. They lived in many Texas locations due to Gerald’s work as an industrial electrician. After his retirement, they settled in their home in the Fort Clark Springs community near Brackettville, Texas. Gerald passed away of cancer in 2010. They had been married 31 years.

Hazel was a life-long volunteer in her churches and at the Sutler’s Heritage Store at Fort Clark Springs. She was an officer of every organization she joined, including the VFW, the Taylor Presbyterian Church, the Brackettville Episcopal Church, Taylor Business & Professional Women’s Club, 12th Street Elementary PTA, Garden Club, and many other civic organizations. Her service sorority, Beta Sigma Phi, in Brackettville, crowned her their Sweetheart and Sister of the Year on three occasions.

Hazel is remembered by her family as a loving mother, grandmother, sister, and wife. She was blessed to have two happy and loving marriages of over thirty years each. She had many interests and was an adept organizer, a skilled seamstress, a relentless gardener, an incredible baker, homemaker, and career woman. The Christmas season was her favorite time of year and she decorated her Brackettville home to the extent that it was featured for many years in the town’s annual Christmas Tour of Homes. Hazel was an avid reader of the great works of literature throughout her life. She was fiercely devoted to her family.

Hazel is survived by both of her children, Jean E. (Svadlenak) Arnevick, and husband, Peter, of Olympia, WA, and her son, Stephen R. Svadlenak, and his wife Debbie (Daniel) of Austin.

She has six grandchildren: Michelle Ranzinger (Kurt) of Boulder, CO; Melanie Pickering (John) of Sammamish, WA; Jesse Klemonsky (Randy) of Lacey, WA; Elizabeth Kappers (Jan-Willem) of Langley, BC, Canada; Nathan Svadlenak of Santa Barbara, CA; and Jeff Svadlenak (Leah) of Austin, TX.

Her great-grandchildren are Maxwell and Cole Pickering, Wylie and Peter Klemonsky, Madelyn and Jack Kappers, Ali Ranzinger and Zach Wismer.

A Memorial Service will be held for Hazel at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29, 2011 at Providence Funeral Home in Taylor, Texas.

A Reception will be held immediately following the Memorial Service at the First Presbyterian Church, 114 West Sixth Street, Taylor, Texas 76574-3533.

In lieu of flowers, Hazel requested donations to charities and had suggested: Saint James Episcopal Church, Fort Street at Henderson Street, Brackettville, Texas, or The Cancer Connection at www.cancerconnection.org.