John L. Hazel

John L. Hazel, 75, of Baltic, passed away on Christmas Eve at Sanford Hospital. Funeral services will begin at 10:30 A.M. Thursday, December 29, 2011, at Baltic Lutheran Church, Baltic, South Dakota. Visitation with the family present will be from 6-8:00 P.M. Wednesday at Minnehaha Funeral Home, Baltic.

John was born on February 18, 1936, at the Hudson Hospital in Hudson, South Dakota. He was the son of William and Annie (Herman) Hazel.

John attended school in Hudson and after graduation attended Nettleton Commercial College in Sioux Falls. He graduated with a degree in accounting. John was employed at Valley National Bank in Sioux Falls for 30 years. He retired in 1989 due to post-polio syndrome.



John died from complications of post-polio. He contracted polio at the age of 16. He was a patient of Sioux Valley Hospital from August 1952 to February 1953. John loved farm life and the animals he cared for, especially his cattle and horses. As John’s health declined, he continued to farm from the kitchen window where he could watch his son, Joel, farm.



Survivors include his wife, Lois; two daughters: Jackie Runge, Sioux Falls, and Jill and husband Ernie Monfiletto of Minden, NV; a son, Joel and wife Kristy, Baltic; three grandchildren, Brittany and Zachary Hazel of Baltic and Treyton Runge of Sioux Falls; two brothers, Bill Hazel, Sioux Falls, and Raymond (Marcia), Hudson; two sister, Jennie West, Sioux Falls and Clara Larson, Lakeville, MN; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.



John was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Louis Hazel and his wife Garnett; sisters, Wilma Ronsiek and her husband Harold; Nellie Keizer and her husabnd Sam; sister-in-law, Marilyn Hazel; and a nephew, Vince Ronsiek.