La Grande, Oregon
Hazel Jane Fleet, 90, of La Grande and formerly of Wallowa County died March 6. The funeral will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday March 12 at Bollman Funeral Home, 315 W. Main St., Enterprise. Burial will follow at the Enterprise Cemetery.
Mrs. Fleet was born Oct. 26, 1914, to Ralph and Lenora Barton in Joseph. The family lived in Hells Canyon, on Johnson Bar, at Grouse Creek on the Imnaha River and at Summit Creek. She attended Park School and Enterprise High School, and graduated from high school in Eugene. She was an accomplished horsewoman, running and winning races on the Imnaha and at the Wallowa County Fair. She was a princess at the Pendleton Round-Up in 1933.
After the death of her father and grandfather in 1934 the family traded ranches with the McGaffee brothers in Hells Canyon. In 1936 she married Allen Wilson. The couple ranched in a number of places, running cattle and sheep, and were known as cougar hunters in Hells Canyon. They worked part-time as packers for the Nez Perce National Forest, and fire lookouts at Dry Diggings, Horse Heaven, Heaven’s Gate, Cold Springs and Hat Point for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
The couple divorced in 1950 and she looked after her mother in Riggins, Idaho, until the two moved to La Grande.
She married Duane Fleet and the couple farmed in the Grande Ronde Valley for 24 years. she was noted for raising quarter horses. She enjoyed hunting, fishing, horses and being with her family.
Survivors include a son, Kim Wilson of La Grande; a brother, Ace Barton of Riggins; five grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Her husband died earlier
The Observer, March 2005
Submitted by Dixie Ricker
Note: Additional Obituary can be found in the March 17, 2005 edition of the Wallowa County Chieftain.