Hazel Marie Ward, who passed away on April 27, 2022 in Prescott, AZ, was a 68 year resident
of Bullhead City, AZ. Born in Checotah, OK on May 6, 1932, Hazel moved to Arizona as a young
woman where she would meet Ralph “Jack” Ward at a dance hall near Picacho Peak. Jack was
a lineman and they moved with the powerline as it was built. Living in Prescott, AZ in
1949-1950, they moved to Bullhead City in 1951 where she remained until 2019 when she
moved to Prescott to be with her son and his family during her final years.
Hazel was a devoted mother of three boys, Allen, Dean, and Robert, and a loving grandmother
to Kelly Anne and Jack Ryan. An adventurer and world traveler, Hazel joined her husband Jack
on a number of African safaris and became renowned for being the last American woman to
take the African Big 5. Her pursuits were memorialized in several well-known books on African
hunting. Hazel deeply enjoyed travel and she hunted and explored every continent except for
Antarctica.
While at home in Bullhead City, Hazel was an avid golfer and spent many of her days on the
Chaparral Golf Course where she won numerous awards over the years. It was on that golf
course at Hole 9 where she received the news that the “stork had arrived” and her third adopted
son, Robert, who was 3 days old, had arrived after being flown home by the Oehlers.
Hazel loved motherhood and spent her time artifact hunting, camping, shooting, and exploring
with all of her sons. She is fondly referred to as “Bugs” by her brother James, who likened her
and Jack as being like Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. She was the action behind many of Jack’s
ideas and kept the books for their many businesses and land developments over the years.
Her laugh was infectious and frequent throughout her days. She found joy in everything she did
from playing cards at the club, to learning how to fly, but most of all, in playing with her two
grandchildren who she nicknamed “her little man” and “her princess.” Just a few days shy of 90
years old, Hazel’s life embodies a life well lived and at the end she was ready to go home to be
in heaven with her husband, Jack, and her sons, Dean and Allen.
Hazel is survived by her brothers, James and Bill Kellog, and by her son, Robert, and his wife
Anne Marie, and their children, Kelly Anne and Jack Ryan.
Hazel’s service will take place at 10:00am on Friday, May 13 at the Desert Lawn Funeral Home
at 9250 S Ranchero Lane, Mohave Valley.