Hazel Irene Wallace was born on April 8, 1914, one of three children born to W. A. and Lena (Lang) Wallace. She was born in Alpha, Minnesota, but by the time she was in grade school her family was living in the Walnut, Illinois area, where she went to school. By high school she was in the Bureau Township High School. Here she was friends of Anna Eckberg and Letha Peck. The three girls became sisters-in-law later in life when Hazel married Art Eckberg and Letha married Lawrence Eckberg. Hazel graduated from high school in 1932.
After completing high school, she married Art Eckberg in Warsaw, Indiana on August 18, 1937. They began a farming life in Bureau County, working several farms until they bought their own in 1949. During their moves from farm to farm, their only son, William, was born in 1939. She and Arthur lived on their farm until Art's death in 1986. Hazel then moved to Princeton, Illinois to a small apartment.
Hazel has always been interested in the Eckberg family history and has saved hundreds of newspaper clippings and pictures of Eckberg family members, which she has organized into albums. Hazel attends almost all the Eckberg family reunions and brings her albums to these gatherings for others to enjoy and learn from. Much of the information in the Genealogy section of this web site, in the "Notes" sections about Eckberg family members, is derived from Hazel's collection of information.
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