Hazel Leona Hanger

Jan. 21, 1914 — Oct. 15, 2012

Hazel Leona Hanger, 98 of Placerville, California, passed peacefully away on Oct. 15, 2012. She was born Jan. 21, 1914, in the town of Cassville, Mineral Township of Barry County, Mo., to Harry L. Kerr and Susie Virginia McVay-Kerr. Her brother Sylvester was a year older than her, and her sister Lelah was born two-and-a-half years later. Her father worked as a boiler man for a railroad shop and the family lived next to Susie’s parents.

Hazel’s father died of influenza at the end of the 1918-1920 flu pandemic. n time her widowed mother married George Doak. George and Susie Doak later farmed in El Dorado County, and spent their most senior years living on Goldner Hill in Placerville. They are interred at Westwood Hills Cemetery.

Hazel Kerr’s first husband was George Lowe Pierce of Oklahoma and Sunland, Calif., and she later married Harry Hanger who was a long time foreman for the Beach Box Factory in Placerville, and a widower with six children. Hazel Hanger gave more than 40 years of volunteer service for the Placerville, SDA church, serving as a leader in the Primary Children’s Division and also volunteered as church clerk, church treasurer, Sabbath School Superintendent, and deaconess. She was a long-term volunteer Community Services Leader. She was also known in the Placerville Community for her many years as an Avon representative. She spent her final decade in La Quinta, Calif., living near her only birth child, George Donovan Pierce, who preceded her in death June 2011 and is interred at Westwood Hills Cemetery.

Hazel is survived by her daughters, Gloria (Jared, MD) Risken of Champaign, Ill., Kay Cook of Castro Valley and Bonnie Smith of Cameron Park. She also leaves her daughter-in-law, Roberta Pierce, who was her caregiver. She is also survived by nephew, William Puthuff of Fair Oaks, Calif.; niece, Neva Elmore of Susanville, Calif.; and cousin, Martha Perona of Fair Oaks. She was the grandmother of Dr. Hazel Pierce-Manfra, DC, of Las Vegas, Walter and Richard Pierce of La Quinta, Calif., Robin Taylor of El Dorado, Sarah Risken of La Grange, Ill., Douglas Risken of Champaign, Ill., Curtis Johnson of San Ramon, Gary Smith of Placerville and Carol Scott of Orangevale, Calif. She also leaves 13 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.

In remembrance of Hazel Hanger, a memorial service is planned at Placerville Seventh Day Adventist Church, 6831 Motherlode Drive, in Placerville, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m., and the gravesite inurnment is immediately following at 2:30 p.m., at Westwood Hills Memorial Park, 2720 Cold Springs Road in Placerville.