Hazel Victorine Wintle Madsen passed away on July 19, 2002 from a stroke and Illness incident to age. She was 93 years old.
Hazel came Into this world March 13th, 1909, the first child of Austin Tracy and Hazel Victorine Spiers Wintle. Born and raised In Ogden, Utah, She was the grandchild of Utah pioneers. Her great-grandfather, John Spiers, was an acquaintance of Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois and followed Brigham Young to Utah after returning from an LDS mission to England. Her grandfather, Joseph Barney Wintle, a personal friend of "Buffalo Bill" Cody, was a wagon train scout for Mormon pioneers in the 1850's and was one of the original Pony Express riders in 1860-1861. Born to a sheep man, she spent much of her early childhood with her father among the sheep camps in the Wasatch Mountains.
Hazel attended Ogden High School, graduating with the class of 1927, and attended Weber College in Ogden. She excelled in English and Drama in both high school and college, and played the title role in the 1928 Weber College production of "Sweet Lavender", the high point of her Weber years. She was still a Weber sophomore when she married her lifelong sweetheart, Joseph C. Madsen, on October 20th, 1928. As the story goes, Joe and Hazel were off to see a Weber football game when, on a "mutual dare", they instead drove to Bountiful, found a bishop who would perform the ceremony, and eloped that same afternoon. They later solemnized their marriage in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Their 'Mutual Dare" lasted for over 60 years until Joe passed away in May of 1989 at the age of 81. The union produced three children, 14 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren. At family parties in her later years she often commented, "Who would have thought that a dare on the way to a Saturday afternoon football game would have ended up with a mess like this?."
Hazel began teaching fifth and sixth grades at the T.O. Smith Elementary School in Ogden In 1953, and completed her teaching degree in 1957 at Utah State University while raising her three children. She retired from teaching in 1973. Next to her family, she considered her teaching career to be the greatest and most fulfilling accomplishment in her life.
She was always an independent woman. Even though she was a homemaker, mother, and teacher for most of her Iife, she was a self-proclaimed "Flapper" in the Jazz Age of the "Roaring 20's" and was always very outspoken about the roles of women in our society. Had the Woman's Movement begun 20 or 30 years earlier, she probably would have been at the forefront of the charge, dragging her husband and children along with her.
A lifelong resident of Ogden and Weber County, Utah, except for a one year's residence in Oakland, CA with her husband in the early 1930's. She moved to Bountiful in 1991 to be near her daughter's family. She was a charter member of the Aglaia Women's Service Club in Ogden, served with the Ogden Chapter of The American Red Cross during World War II, and was a member of the Ogden Chapter of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Active until the end, she was a regular at the Bountiful Golden Age Center bridge club every Thursday afternoon until as recently as three weeks before her death.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Joe; a son, Dr. Jack A. Madsen of Salt Lake City; her brother, Dr. Keith A. Wintle of La Mesa, CA; and a great-grand daughter, Rachel Allred. She is survived by her daughter, Mrs. Connie (Patrick) Gilmore of Bountiful; a son, Dr. Edward K. (Sharon) Madsen of Price; 14 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Many not related to her directly, also called her "Grandma Hazel," and she cherished them too as her own.
Funeral services will be held at Larkin Mortuary, 496 24th Street, Ogden, Utah on Thursday, July 25th, 2002, beginning with a 1:00 PM viewing for family and friends, immediately followed by memorial services at 2:00 p.m. Interment at Aultorest Cemetery in Ogden will follow. Please plan to come and help her family celebrate this remarkable woman's life.