AMANA - Hazelle Keir Schmuecker, age 100, formerly of Marengo, died Friday, September 21, 2007 at the Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha following a brief illness.  A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 AM, Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Watkins with Father Jack McClure as Celebrant.  Interment will be held at St. Patrick & St. Paul Cemetery in Watkins.  Friends may call at Phillips Funeral Home in Blairstown from 4 to 8 PM on Monday and after 9 AM Tuesday at the church. A memorial fund has been established.
     Hazelle was born September 8, 1907 on a farm near Nemaha, IA in Sac County, the daughter of Roy Earl and Zada (Corsaut) Keir.  She graduated from high school at Sac City in 1925 and from Iowa State in Ames in 1931.  She taught country school three years before she married Ervin J. Schmuecker of Blairstown on June 21, 1932.  In 1935 they moved to Pocahontas where E. J. was extension director for six years.  They bought a hill farm in Iowa County in 1940 where Hazelle lived until 1994 when she moved to Amana.
  .  Hazelle was very active all her life. She was a 4-H leader for many years and was a member of the T.T.T. Sorority in Pocahantas and Marengo for seventy years.  She was also a member of the Amana Art Guild for many years.  In 1953 she took graduate studies at the University of Iowa and received her advanced degree.  She taught Science, Art and Home Economics at Blairstown from 1955-1960 and at Norway from 1960-1972.  She was a lifetime member of the Iowa County Historical Society and was involved in the beginning of the Heritage Museum.  She was a willing volunteer in many different communities. She had many talents and interests and instructing others to know and appreciate them was her passion.    She loved to write and belonged to a writing group for many years and was an avid lover of nature.  Her many talents included writing poetry and family history, china painting, quilting, crocheting, knitting, oil painting, charcoal and pencil drawing, and spinning on the potter's wheel, just to name a few. Hazelle believed her longevity was due to physical activity and diet.  At age 99 she still mowed her lawn, shoveled snow and was a water aerobic enthusiast.
     Her memory will be cherished by her son Thomas and wife, Ann of Mountain Home, Arkansas, and their children, Karl, Joe and Kim, John and Eric; her son James of Marengo and his children, Barry, Mark and Kristi, Susan and Ron Hoyle, Joan and Tom Pieffer, and Nancy and Todd Chown; and her daughter Kathryn Dochterman of Lexington, Kentucky  and her children, Suzanne and Rick Nunnelley and Tonya and Todd Culley; and seventeen great-grandchildren.    
     In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Ervin Joseph in 1976 and a great grandchild, Hunter, in 1999.