Obituary of Hazen M. Hyland

No visitation Hazen Mooers Hyland Born 2/4/1915 Died 6/3/2007 Married to Dorothy Hyland (Bechtel), deceased, in 1936, four children, Marilyn Lundberg of Olympia, WA, Robert Hyland of Vancouver, WA, Art Hyland of Astoria, WA, and Cyndie Mannello of Langley, WA. This is being written and edited by Marilyn, Cyndie and Art, with less time than one would like for such an undertaking. For so many years Hazen has been called "Poppo" a name coined by his first granddaughter Laurie, that he became Poppo instead of Dad or Hazen. And in his new role, now over forty years in the making, Dad was transformed from the farm boy--who lived to go out with Dorothy, our mom, and once married, worked and lived to be with and please her--to a person we all came to love and behold moreso in his Poppo role than the relatively stern and distant working father we knew as children. As a father to us kids while growing up, he often seemed like we were in the way of his time with his wife and love of his life, which of course we were. Kids are like that. Indeed, he epitomizes the grandparent who says that if he had known how great grandchildren were he'd have had them first. Because once a grandfather, Dad became father to us all, while continuing his adoration of Mom. Yet it was his devotion to Mom that probably was the glue that held the family together and made the success we all can say we enjoy. We thought he would fade fast after Mom's death in 1993, but he surprised us all, to our eternal delight. He almost died in 1983 during a series of operations, but came back to be stronger, although thinner, than ever. Dad was drafted into the Army in 1944, and sent to the Philippines to invade Japan, which would have been the bloodiest of battles yet in that Pacific war, but the two atomic bombs ended that plan and sent Dad back to the States the next year with relatively little combat. However, it was a teary departure the year he left, and Mom had two young children, Marilyn and Bob, with another, Art, on the way, and no certainty of ever seeing him again. Our parents' generation had that burden, and it's one that hasn't really been shared as commonly by any generation since. After the war, he returned to his work at the Post Office as a letter carrier in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, our home town, where in 1953 the youngest of us, Cyndie, was born. Maybe the realization of raising four children helped to lead him in 1956 to make a family-changing decision to quit and enroll in the Milwaukee School of Engineering to obtain an Associate degree in Mechanical Engineering. This difficult decision, made possible by Mom working in various law offices, was a seminal event in the lives of this Hyland family, for it ultimately led to moving from Wisconsin, a place full of our ancestors on both sides to Washington State due to his new employment with Boeing. All of us from time to time wonder what would have occurred had our parents decided to remain in that little town on the lake in the Midwest. He dedicated his professional life to Boeing, and was one of its loyal supporters until he died. Proud to be an engineer there, when he and Dottie in a trip to Germany toured a Mercedes Benz plant in the 70's, they were given special treatment by the employees there who shared a similar feeling toward great corporations. Once again, a difference between the generations is evident for us all in retrospect, since so many people working today don't have that fidelity or sense of pride in corporations for whom they might work or depend upon. He did and always displayed it when asked. And his inclination along with our Mom's similar attitude toward employers rubbed off on all of us children and grandchildren, for as he became Poppo over the years as mentioned above, his advice and counsel, his attitude in general, helped to lead many of us to the right path of work and family. Mom was raised a Catholic by her staunchly Catholic mother Josephine Bechtel, and there was no doubt that she would either marry a Catholic or the man she married would become one. And so he did. And we did. We all attended Catholic grade school, for which all of us can be said to be able to distinguish a noun from a preposition, among many other things learned and taught. Somehow it all made and makes sense. At the time the discipline appeared tough and cold at times, but again that generation raised kids the best way they knew how, and who are we to argue with their decisions, for they managed to stick together their entire lives, were true to each other their entire married life, and produced all of us, their loving children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Because of Hazen Mooers Hyland, and Dorothy P. Hyland, now resting beside each other, we all enjoy the fruits of their life, work, worry and joy, in order for us to carry on. May we do as well. He loved cars, photography, working with wood, and road trips. He had to have real cream in his coffee. These kinds of traits are supposed to be included in these sorts of descriptions for reasons not entirely known to the authors, but included anyway just in case we're being graded, which of course we are. Please leave condolences by clicking "View Guestbook" below