The Daily Sentinel <www.gjsentinel.com> 14 June 2009 Hazel May Brown Atwood June 19, 1917 - June 9, 2009 Hazel May Brown Atwood passed quietly away in Hemet, California on June 9, 2009. She was almost 92. She was born in Canon City, Colorado on June 19th, 1917. As the fourth child in the Brown family of three sisters and one brother, she grew up in Victor, Colorado, the "city of mines" in the Cripple Creek Mining District. She was a member of a pioneer Colorado family. Her maternal grandfather brought his family to the area before it achieved statehood, practicing law and later serving as a state senator from Custer County. Her father, Charles Norman Brown worked in gold mining in various capacities, serving for many years as the stationary engineer on the Vindicator Mine in Victor. Her mother, Lillian McNeeley Brown was a talented amateur musician. Hazel learned to love books from her father, who was an inveterate reader, and she developed a true passion for historical fiction and biography, as well as for classical music and history. She loved flower gardening, and engaging in conversation about politics and world events. In her final years, she enjoyed many peaceful, contemplative hours sitting in the out of doors, and to the end carried herself with great dignity and poise. She graduated from high school in 1935, and in 1940, while attending nursing school, married Richard Johnson Atwood of Watertown, Connecticut. During the war years, while her husband, a veteran of the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach, was in Europe, she lived and worked in Colorado Springs. After the war, they returned to England, raising three children as her husband continued a career with the Air Force. They enjoyed many years of the good life, travelling in Europe, collecting antiques and becoming true Anglophiles. After retiring, they returned to the East Coast, moving to Newport, Maine where they enjoyed fishing, travel and a group of wonderful friends as members of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Palmyra. Hazel and Richard moved to Grand Junction in 1997 to be near their daughter. They were married 66 years until his passing in January, 2007. Hazel is survived by her son, Mark B. Atwood and wife, Linda of Nazareth, PA; son, David F. Atwood of Idyllwild, CA and daughter, Cary A. Atwood and husband, Jim Landis of Grand Junction; three grandchildren, Matthew W. Atwood of East Windsor, CT; Todd F. Atwood of Woodland, CA and David F. Atwood Jr. of Santa Clarita, CA, and four great grandchildren. In the last years she very much appreciated the caring companionship of Gloria Clark, Kent Keith and the caring staff of Comfort Care, and Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado.