DOOLEY, CLARENCE H. AND HAZEL

by Clarence Dooley and Marie Dooley

Entry F110 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

"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.