Hazel Ann Conway, 81
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 1 day, 3 hours AGO
Hazel Ann Conway (formerly Holmes, formerly Peltzer, née Dedman), 81, passed peacefully away on Nov. 21, 2025, in Kalispell, from pneumonia contracted during chemotherapy fighting her fifth cancer. She was borne in Shelby on Feb. 20,1944 to Herbert Dedman of Havre and Viola Childers of Whitefish. She is survived by her sister Maxine.
Hazel was employed by Pacific Bell after graduating from high school in Billings and moved to Sacramento, California to live with her sister, Maxine, eventually moving to Stockton, California where she met her future husband, John. They married on July 25, 1993, on Holland Lake in Condon. They left immediately on horseback into the Bob Marshall Wilderness on their honeymoon.
She and her husband John moved to Montana and built the "house of their dreams" by themselves; actually putting "hammer to nail." She was immensely proud of that accomplishment. It made it easy to welcome the old friends into their new home, and, all the new friends she made in Woods Bay.
An avid genealogist, Hazel created a family history that included some 15,000 relatives. Included in that history was the "Apple of Her Eye," granddaughter, Bella, borne to her daughter, Jennifer. Hazel could survive the cold Montana winters knowing that Bella would travel here for summer vacations.
Hazel was a part of the community volunteering at the Bigfork Food Bank, many monthly breakfasts with the Red Hat Society, and weekly gatherings of the Woods Bay Tattlers.
She enjoyed life in Montana to the fullest — sailing on Flathead Lake, playing cards, winter skiing at Essex, teaching cribbage and "working with wood" by making cribbage boards. She also loved to travel with John around Montana and the U.S., Hawaii, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and many of the towns on the Danube via cruise ship.
Hazel is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Holmes, son, Shawn Peltzer Holmes, granddaughters, Bella and Angela, great-granddaughter, Lalonie and her husband, John.
A memorial is planned for 2 p.m. on Dec. 29 at The Bonfire Restaurant in Woods Bay, Montana. Her ashes are to be distributed to her surviving relatives. Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home is caring for the family.