DOOLEY, CLARENCE H. AND HAZEL

“I, Clarence was born in Boone County, Indiana, January 4, 1891, the son of Wilford A. and Adel Dooley. I married Hazel F. Loos born April 13, 1895, daughter of George H. and Lennie Loos, April 18, 1916. We had three girls and one son, Mrs. Donn (Amy) Galloway, of Bassett, Nebraska; Doris Miller of Hermitage, Missouri); Mrs. Dwaine (Jean) Whittaker of Kemmerer, Wyoming and Stanley of Sunnyvale, California.

I came with my family to Hooker County in March 1920, three and half miles northeast of Mullen. My stock and household goods were brought in by rail from Lawrence, Nebraska and my parents were moving to Bloomington, Nebraska. I helped them get settled and then went to Hastings where a big snow storm held my family for three days. Friends that had planned to go to Mullen, asked if they could drive along with us. There were four in that family and three in mine. We were happy to have the family as we thought with two cars we could help each other. We got to Grand Island, Nebraska the 11the of April. The road #30 had one way traffic with dug-out places to pass, till we ran out of snow. We got to Gothenburg and stayed the night. The next morning, our friends' two kids were sick and the doctor told them to wait till afternoon and see how they were. We left at 2 P.M. the 17the and started across country northwest out to the San-dhills. It was raining when we reached a sod house to ask if we were on the right road, they said, “yes,'' but they didn't think we could get over the hill. We tried and couldn't make it. The fellow told us if it rained all night we'd be able to go over the hill, which we did. We hadn't gone far when it began to snow as we came to another sod house where we asked if we were on the right road to Mullen. They said yes but we wouldn't be able to get over the Whitman Hill, it would be slick. We tried it and then to the Dismal River Hill. Alpha Hansen had walked across to the hill and said, “This is going to be a bad storm,'' so he took us to his place. This was April 18the. It snowed a couple days with high winds. The Hansens just had a three room sod house so we slept on the floor. After the storm, we went out and helped him skin Texas cattle that died in the storm. After that we wanted to try going on to Mullen but they wouldn't hear to it, as they'd go to town in a day or so and take their truck and break the road, which we could hardly find. We were so thankful that the Hansens knew the country so well, we didn't, that was sure. I think it was the 24the of April when we got to Mullen. Our friends that came with us stopped in Mullen and we went to the Middle Loup River north of town and found the approach of the bridge was out so we went back up the hill and went two miles west to cross the river and finally got home safe and sound, just across into the Cherry County Line.''

From Marie Dooley: The following information was taken from the obituary of Clarence. Through the years, Clarence's pursuits included road construc-tion, ranching, farming, and mechanic work. He and Hazel operated a dairy business for many years. Hazel also gave piano lessons. Clarence built five houses for sale in Mullen. Hazel died November 6, 1968 and was laid to rest in the Cedarview Cemetery in Mullen. During Clarence's seventies, he maintained power engines for the city of Mullen, and then in his eighties he was custodian and caretaker for the Hooker County Courthouse. Clarence passed away March 29, 1985 at the age of 94 years, 2 months and 25 days. He was laid to rest beside his wife, Hazel in the Mullen Cemetery.