An American Family History

Hazel Isetta Smith Hamilton was born July 16, 1910 in Red Oak, Iowa. Her parents were John Elmer Smith and Emma Ethel Bertrand. Her childhood nickname was “gasoline."

After their mother died, Hazel who was the oldest took care of all the younger children.

Her brother Lee wrote

The first one to come to California was Hazel. She rode out here with a friend and his wife. She came to Long Beach, then into Los Angeles. 

Hazel worked at Marman Products a place that made clamps which was owned by one of the Marx brothers. She got her real estate license, but never sold any property.

Hazel was married very briefly, thus the name Hamilton, but lived with her father, Elmer, for virtually her entire life.

Hazel loved to visit Los Vegas and play the nickel slot machines in her later years. She sold the Hawthorne home in 1986 and moved to San Pedro. In 1990 she moved to be near her brothers in Visalia.

At the family gatherings Hazel would always come early. She would often bring home grown green beans boiled with bacon. She always played dominoes with “the boys."

She died December 5, 1991.  She is buried in West Lawn Cemetery, Omaha, Nebraska with her parents.