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| Portrait of Hazel Bryce Ashton |
Hazel Bryce Ashton ("Nana" as we knew her) was the only great grandparent of mine that I can remember. She passed away on May 13, 1985, a few months after my grandpa Allen passed away. I was a senior in high school at the time.
Hazel was the granddaughter of Ebenezer Bryce, Mormon pioneer from Scotland, who built the Pine Valley Chapel and the namesake of Bryce Canyon National Park. She was born in Henrieville Utah, but moved to Price, Utah shortly after she was born (by 1900 Census, age 2 or 3). She married Clarence Ashton in Roosevelt, Utah on October 10, 1916 and spent most of her life in Roosevelt. Her husband, Clarence owned a a hardware store in Roosevelt and several family members, including her father, William Bryce, son in law Bennie Schmiett, daughter Evelyn, and granddaughter Linda worked there.
Hazel and Clarence had a daughter, Helen who was born and died on February 27, 1919. Their only other child, Evelyn Hope Ashton, was my maternal grandmother.
Some time after her husband Clarence passed away, she moved to Salt Lake City and had a condo at Three Fountains East. I remember going to visit her there and they had a duck pond behind the condo that my sister, Wendy and I liked to walk around. I remember as a child, I always thought that Nana looked really old (she was). Her skin had a lot of wrinkles and her voice was shaky. But she was a pleasant woman and I liked going there to visit.
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