Hazel H. Molner; Homemaker and Rockhound

Hazel H. Molner of Ojai, a homemaker and a rockhound, died Thursday in an Ojai care center. She was 96.

Molner was born Dec. 9, 1899, in Topeka, Kan. Her family moved to Oregon when she was young, and it was there that Molner attended grammar school, said her son, Stephen Molner of Ojai.

When she was a teenager, Molner’s family moved to the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, near South Pasadena. In 1920, she met and married her husband, Archie.

Molner had lived in Ventura County since 1929, when she and her husband moved from Highland Park to Ventura. In 1968 they relocated to the Ojai Valley. Archie Molner, who died in 1974, was an electrical contractor, and Hazel kept the books for the business, her son said.

“Mom was down to earth, deep into mathematics and science. Anything that came up new in science she liked to talk about,” Stephen Molner said. His mother valued honesty and she passed that trait on to her children, he said.

“Honesty is what I learned from her. I think she taught all us kids that,” said Stephen Molner.

In her spare time, Molner was involved in a women’s service organization known as the Neighbors of Woodcraft. She also enjoyed collecting, polishing and displaying gems and minerals she would gather in the hills around the Ojai Valley. “She had some small lapidary tools. She got some fun out of rock hounding,” her son said.

In addition to son Stephen, Molner is survived by son Archie of Bisbee, Ariz., and daughters Linda Russell of Ojai and Pearl Tudor of Bisbee, Ariz.; eight grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be Monday at 2 p.m. at Ivy Lawn Cemetery, Ventura. Contributions in Molner’s name may be made to a favorite charity.

Arrangements are under the direction of Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.