HAZEN, HOWARD "CURLY" AND MAXINE (KEMP)

by Maxine Kemp Hazen

Entry F189 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

I, Maxine Kemp Hazen was born to
Chester and Edna Boyer, December 16, 1920.
After the death of my natural mother, I was
adopted by Ben and Agnes Kemp. I'm not
that "puny kid I once was, born prematurely
and put in a cardboard box and warmed on
the oven door of an old range stove, byAgnes
Kemp who saved my life, with God's help."
I'm pretty much on the plump side and I let
my hair go gray.

I married Howard Hazen, better known as
"Curly", July 10, 1939. Howard's parents were
C.W. Hazen and Lillie Mae. He was born
December 27, 1917. We lived north of
Thedford, Nebraska 18 miles, and raised two
kids, Donna and Mack. Both of our children
went to school in the country until Mack
started to High School in 1953 and Donna
went her 8th grade in Thedford. Mack
graduated from Thedford High School in
1957 and then we moved to Arthur, Nebraska
in May of 1957. Donna finished High School
in Arthur in 1958. She later went to Chadron
State College and finally worked in the office
at what was then, Goodalls Manufacturing,
until she married her high school boyfriend,
Nick Rodocker, of Halsey, Nebraska. Nick
and Donna's three children were born in
Broken Bow, Nebraska where Nick worked
on R.E.A. for several years. They later moved
to Malta, Idaho where he is still involved in
R.E.A. and bosses from the office.

Mack went to school at Milford, Nebraska
for two years, and two months in Omaha at
the Mechanics Schools. He had his first job
at Imperial, Nebraska where he met and
married Janet Browning. They came back
and worked on the ranch at Percy Millers and
later came back home to help his Dad. They
built a shop where he has his own business
and manages to keep real busy. Mack and
Janet have three children and one is married
and has two children so they are grand-
parents and Curly and I are great-grand-
parents.

Curly and I also had another child after we
came to Arthur. Joleen Sue was born in
August 1958. She kept us going for another
18 years - you know, ball games, 4-H, dances,
rodeos, etc. I guess you'd say we raised a
second family. She went to school at a
Cosmetologist College and worked in Ogalla-
la, nebraska even after she was married. She
married Rusty Beaman and they have two
children, both boys. Joleen was also Assistant
Manager of the Ben Franklin Store in
Ogallala. She is now working at the First
National Bank at the Drive-in-window. She
kept my parents, Ben and Agnes, going too,
as she was the apple of their eye and Mama
was so happy to be taking care of a baby
again. Mama really should have worked in a
hospital in the maternity ward the way she
loved babies. Curly and I really had a
wonderful built in baby-sitter at all times.