Obituary of Hattie Beatrice Croy

Hattie Beatrice Schulz was born in Sparta, Wisconsin to Susanna Johanna Meyer and Carl Schulz. She had one brother, Willard, and two sisters, Viola and Dorothy. They worked a farm in Monroe County, Wisconsin. When her father died in 1934, she quit high school to help farm and cook for the farmhands. They called her "Boots" because she wore her father's boots while doing chores. She loved him, and he taught her to play cards, a life long passion. Her mother soon hired her out to work for Lois and Fay Ramsey, whom she always considered her second mother and father. After some difficult years, she joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corp on February 11, 1943. There she continued her education and met and married Ralph Lewis Croy. After his discharge, they moved to California where she bore three children: Donna Lee, David Lewis, and Kenneth Wayne. Hattie loved gardening, cooked and sewed expertly, and managed her home with an eye to impress. After her children were grown, she worked as a clerical supervisor with the California Franchise Tax Board. She retired to travel with Ralph and play bridge. She tackled life with a stubborn courage and a strong will until the very end.