Surrounded by family and friends, Hazel Simpson turned 104 on Thursday.
Farrington Court threw her a birthday party, with Mayor Dana Ralph, above, right, in the photo, dropping by to help celebrate the occasion.
A Minnesota native, Hazel grew up on a Yakima farm. In 1934, she married a Montana cowboy, Ralph, who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. After the war, the couple moved to Hobart to live on a 17-acre ranch.
Hazel and Ralph enjoyed wild game hunting in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and horseback riding. Hazel continued to ride horses into her 80s.
She worked in a Yakima cannery, a Bremerton dairy, a Ballard restaurant and at the Maple Valley Golf Course.
Hazel lived in Auburn for 15 years before moving to Kent and Farrington Court in 2009. Ralph died in 2003. They had one son, Darrel, who died several months before her husband’s death.
She has a daughter-in-law, one granddaughter, four great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
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