Denver & Hazel Copen ~ Index
Hazel Muir was born 26 December 1894, in Petersboro, Cache County, Utah. It was called Mendon Ranch at that time. Hazel was baptized 5 June 1903 and sealed to her parents 3 February, 1947.
Hazel was the second child and was called the little sister of Maggie, who was the first child. All the Muir children went to school in Mendon. Maggie had come down with scarlet fever and did not complete one year, so she and Hazel went through school together from that point on. In 1900, the family moved into Mendon, which made going to school much easier. Their home was about two blocks from the church and was half wood and half rock. The school was across from the church within easy walking distance. In 1904, Hazel and her father both came down with typhoid fever. Hazel was nine years old and was very sick. The doctor gave her medicine but believed in starving a fever. All Hazel was allowed to have was milk and lime water. As time went on, one-fourth of a graham cracker was added and eventually other foods were added. Hazel had long black hair, and the typhoid made it fall out. Her family wanted to shave her head to make the hair come in thicker, but Hazel wouldn't allow it. It was cut shoulder length. Recovery took a long time and she had to learn to walk again.
In 1909 her father, Thomas Muir, had a new house built. It was one block south of the church on the west side of the road. It was at this time that Stephen was born. The carpenters stayed with the Muir family, so Maggie and Hazel took over the chores of running the house while their mother, Mary, was in bed with the baby.
When Hazel was fourteen, she stayed in Logan with some cousins and went to school at the Agricultural College. She studied algebra, English, business correspondence, spelling and physical education. She stayed just one year because she didn't like being away from home. She lived with her parents after that and went to South Cache High School in Hyrum, Utah. That was the first year South Cache was built.
Mendon has always had the tradition of May Day. Hazel was crowned May Day Queen. There was a Maypole dance and a program with the crowning of the Queen. After lunch at home, all came back for races, tugs of war, greased pig chase and ball games. Later in the evening there was a dance. It was here that Hazel first met Denver Copen. His family and the Hiibners had been converted to the L.D.S. Church and moved to Mendon from West Virginia. Hazel married Denver Marcus Copen on 18 March 1917 in Logan, Cache County, Utah.
Denver was born 6 March 1891 in Two Mile, Kanawha County, West Virginia to Henry Floyd Copen and Agnes Lanora Miller. He was baptized 13 May 1912 and endowed 8 February 1917 (Logan Temple). Hazel and Denver were sealed 12 February 1919 and had their first son sealed to them at that time. Denver had been married before (about 1912) to Bonnie Gay Marion, daughter of George Wallace Marion and Teressia Ellen Reed. Bonnie was born 21 November 1895 in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia and died 21 February 1965. Denver and Bonnie had one son, Gerald Aldrich Copen, born 12 April 1914 in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, and died 27 April 1914. He was sealed to Denver and Hazel 8 November 1989 (Denver Temple).
The Copens bought an old log house across the street from the Muir home. Here, on this city lot, they had a wonderful garden, orchard and flowers. Denver worked for the railroad and than at Bushnell Veterans Hospital at Brigham City. Later, Hazel would also work there. Then Denver became a cook, and Hazel would work in the diner with him in Logan. When Denver worked as a cook, the Copens moved to Logan for thirteen years, and this was where the boys went to school. They moved back to Mendon each summer when school was out. When the boys were graduated, Denver and Hazel took on cooking jobs in different places. Denver cooked in a hotel in Blackfoot, Idaho, they took on cooking jobs for the Forest Service in Logan Canyon, for a construction company building a road from Delta, Utah to California, another construction company building a road up Logan Canyon to Garden City. One summer they managed the Lava Hot Springs Cafe and Hotel.
Hazel worked twenty-one years in the M.I.A. (Mutual Improvement Association). She was secretary and Beehive teacher for many groups of girls. She taught Sunday school for a year and was secretary for six years. She was also a visiting teacher for many years, worked on the quilting committee, and served as counselor in the Relief Society for seven years.
Later Hazel cooked at the Mendon School and helped Maggie take care of their mother, who had a stroke. Hazel joined the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and quilted for the Relief Society. She was a good barber and cut Denver's, her boy's and her brothers' hair. She and Denver built a new house in 1962. They stayed in Mendon permanently after that. After Denver passed away, Hazel and Maggie kept each other company for many years as they lived across the street from each other. Later, when she had trouble seeing, she would spend winters with Merlin in Denver and with Estis (Bud) in Alabama.
Denver passed away suddenly but very peacefully on 16 September 1966 in Mendon and was buried 21 September in the Mendon Cemetery. Hazel passed away at age 92, several days after a fall at a senior citizen apartment in Logan on 23 November 1987 and was buried 27 November in Mendon.
Denver and Hazel had three children:
- Merlin Denver Copen
- Alma Lee Copen
- Estis Gilbert Copen