Hazel Alene Webber Rabe passed away on Thursday, July 11, 2019. She was 102 years old. She was born on March 27, 1917 in Battle Creek, Michigan. She was the youngest of 5 children and the youngest of the 4 “Webebr Girls”. Her parents, William and Gertrude Webber were both from Ontario, Canada and had been transferred to Battle Creek by the Grand Trunk Railroad when they moved the shops from Pt. Edward, Canada to Battle Creek in 1909. Her father was a machinist for the railroad and worked on steam engines. The family would go back to Canada every summer with their railroad passes to visit family. She and her sisters remained close and sometimes traveled together.
Hazel graduated from Battle Creek Central High School in 1935. She married Phillip E. Ogden in April 1937. They had a double elopement with her best friend Virginia Olmstead and Philip Sly in Angola, IN. Their daughter, Sandra, was born in December 1937. This marriage lasted 30 years.
During WWII, Hazel worked at Eton Manufacturing inspecting valves for all types of military equipment. After the war, she worked at the Kellogg Co. She went to Albrights Business School to refresh her typing and shorthand skills and became a secretary at Kellogg Company. Later she was promoted to Executive Secretary to Vice President of Purchasing Norm Rabe. In 1968, she and Norm Rabe married. After he retired, they moved to Florida and lived in Punta Gorda Isles. They enjoyed boating and entertaining friends and family. Hazel became a lifetime member of the Port Charlotte Genealogy Society. She spent many hours researching her Webber family roots in England, especially Cornwall and Devon. She was an avid reader and enjoyed needlework. She also loved to travel.
Her husband Norm passed away in 1981. Due to failing eyesight, Hazel moved into South Port Square in 2001. You could always catch her on the bus to go shopping. She had a grand party to celebrate her 100th birthday. She said she could no longer lie about her age.
Hazel is survived by her daughter Sandra Ogden DeBoer, her son-in-law David DeBoer of Watsonville, CA; grandchildren, Kathleen DeBoer, of Vancouver, WA, James DeBoer of Kurtztown, PA and Christopher DeBoer of Walnut Creek, CA. She has seven great-grandchildren, several nieces and nephews and cousins. She will always be remembered in her family as Mema.
Memorial service is yet to be determined.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.8.18