CLELAND
Hazel Geneva
Hazel Geneva (Thomas) Cleland passed away at home on December 7, 2016. She had just returned from shopping and having a coffee in her favourite spot with a friend. Hazel was born and raised on a farm in McTaggart, Saskatchewan, where her love of nature and animals began. After high school, she attended secretarial school in Weyburn. She worked in Weyburn for a short time, then in law offices in Toronto and Edmonton. Hazel returned to Weyburn to marry Robert William (Bob) Cleland on September 10, 1952. Bob was working for his father in Cleland's Funeral Home when their first son, Brad, was born. In 1955, Bob and Hazel purchased the funeral home and remained there to raise their growing family - a second son Eric and a daughter Abbey - until the family moved to Red Deer in 1970. They settled on an acreage east of Red Deer, where Hazel raised many horses and a menagerie of other animals, which made for a busy and happy life. After retiring for a time to Jaffray, BC, they returned to Alberta and eventually moved to a condo in Red Deer. Hazel continued to live there after losing her loving husband and best friend Bob, who passed away in October, 2005. In years following, she enjoyed many happy times with family and friends in the condo. Hazel's parents, Norman and Pearl Thomas, as well as her sisters, Marjorie, Thelma and Beatrice, passed before her. Hazel will be lovingly remembered by brother Doyle (Val) Thomas on the family farm in McTaggart, brother-in-law Jack Cleland in Regina, sister-in-law Marlene Ross in Yorkton, son Brad (Deb) in Red Deer, son Eric in Vancouver, daughter Abbey (Duncan) in Dawson City, along with her grandchildren, great-grand-children, nieces, nephews, and extended Halvorson family.
Hazel will rest next to her loving husband Bob at Hillcrest Cemetery in Weyburn Saskatchewan July 2017. Arrangements in Weyburn will be made by Fletcher's Funeral Home.
What we wouldn't give if we could say
We're going to see our Mom today
To hear her voice and see her smile
To sit and chat with her awhile
But we have lost, and God has gained
The most precious Mother this world contained