Hazel Morrow

Hazel Morrow peacefully passed away the evening of April 29, 2014. Born Hazel Marian Baker on August 29, 1921, to P. R. and Dora Case Baker in Sabetha, Kansas, Hazel became an avid reader and musician in her early life, most of which was spent in Rocky Ford, Colorado. She came to Albuquerque in the early 1940s to attend the University of New Mexico and became a member of First Baptist Church where she met Findley Morrow. Later she attended Ft. Hayes College in Hayes, Kansas, continued her pursuit of music, and became a teacher, after which she returned to Albuquerque and UNM and married Findley in 1945. While raising four children, Hazel played bass violin in the Albuquerque Civic Symphony for many years, was choir director for Hoffmantown Baptist Church, taught piano, and substitute taught for Albuquerque Public Schools. Later she became an executive secretary at First Baptist Church and the Baptist Convention of New Mexico where she served as editor of “The Baptist New Mexican” until after her 90th birthday. She was a beloved Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church well into her 80s. After the death of Findley and almost fifty years of marriage, she wed Virgil Stormo in 1998. Virgil died in January, 2014. She was a devoted member of First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, for seven decades and read her Bible daily. Hazel had wide interests in literature, and she was particularly fond of the nineteenth-century American Booth Tarkington and the Edwardian short-story writer H. H. Munro (Saki). Saki’s character Nicholas, from the story “The Lumber-Room,” says a lot about Mom’s sense of humor. “You are not to go into the gooseberry garden,” said the aunt, changing the subject. “Why not?” demanded Nicholas. “Because you are in disgrace,” said the aunt loftily. Nicholas did not admit the flawlessness of the reasoning; he felt perfectly capable of being in disgrace and in a gooseberry garden at the same moment. Hazel was preceded in death by her seven siblings, Breta Treat, Ross Baker, Thelma Reynolds, Audrey Jones, Lois Johnston, Mary Baker, Leslie Baker and Marjorie Stormo. She is survived by her children, Baker Morrow and wife JoAnn Strathman, Julia Huchmala and husband John, Rosalind Cooper and husband Terry, all of Albuquerque, and Thomas Morrow and wife Sherry of Aurora, Colorado; stepchildren Gary Stormo and wife Sue of Loveland, Colorado, Ron Stormo and wife Monica of Lone Pine, California, and Sally Bjork and husband Bob of Antioch, California; grandchildren John M. Huchmala, Matthew Huchmala, Clinton Anderson, Philip Hanney, Lauren Anderson, Kendra Lamb, Marian Camacho, and Susan Morrow; nine great grandchildren; and numerous dear step-grandchildren, cousins, nieces, and nephews. There will be a visitation Sunday, May 4, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. and a memorial service Monday, May 5, at 1:00 p.m. at French Mortuary Chapel on Lomas Blvd. NE. Interment will follow the service at Sunset Memorial Park with a reception afterward at French Mortuary on Lomas. Pallbearers will be John A. Huchmala, Terry Cooper, Michael Baker, John M. Huchmala, Matthew Huchmala, Philip Hanney, and Clinton Anderson. The family would like to thank the caregivers of Gentiva Hospice and Emeritus at the Cottages, Janet Saiers, and JoAnn Strathman for the loving care they showed our mother.

Hazel Morrow

August 29, 1921 - April 29, 2014