AMY HARRIETT HATCH

1919 - 2009

Amy Harriett Harrell Hatch passed Friday, August 28, 2009, in La Conner, WA.

She was born in Checotah, Oklahoma, May 30, 1919, Golden Cassie Duncan Harrell, a college graduate who rode horseback 20 miles each day to teach school, and Everett Richard Harrell, a graduate of Perdue University in mechanical engineering; later to become chief engineer for the Graham Packard Company. She was the first of five children. The family moved from Checotah to Evansville, Indiana, and finally to Birmingham, Michigan. Always a straight "A" student, she was co-president of her senior class and graduated from Baldwin High School in 1937 with honors. She attended one year at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan.

With the final pressures of the Great Depression weighing on her family, Amy was unable to return to college and so she married her high school sweetheart, Herbert Brooks "Stub" Hatch June 29, 1938, at the age of 18, Stub was 19. The couple moved west to California, setting up housekeeping in Stockton, California, where Stub went to work for his father in the local Chevrolet dealership until the outbreak of WWII and where Amy gave birth to a son.

Following the attack at Pearl Harbor, Stub enlisted in the Army Air Corp to fly fighter planes. This move meant Amy needed to close up their home and sell their belongings in Stockton, then moved back to Michigan to live with her family for the duration of the war. She remained there until Stub's honorable discharge from the service as a fighter pilot ACE in 1946. At that time they purchased the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Cadillac dealership in the tiny town of Placerville, California on Highway 50, in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, south of Lake Tahoe. It was in Placerville that Amy gave birth to two daughters.

In 1955, Amy and Stub sold the Placerville dealership and moved to the San Francisco Bay area, establishing Hatch Chevrolet Co. in Los Altos, California. There Amy raised their three children who grew up and began their own lives. With retirement in 1978, Amy and Stub chose to move to La Conner, Washington, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

Stub and Amy Hatch were married just shy of 64 years when Stub passed away in April of 2002. Shouldering her grief, Amy once again began looking forward. She always found much in life to value and enjoy with great enthusiasm. She was an avid gardener, as had been her father, growing lovely gardens and flowers well into her 80's, she was also an avid Bridge player, playing with several women's groups in Shelter Bay. Finally, her great love in life was music and as an accomplished pianist she played up until the last month of her life. She was known, by all, for her kindness, thoughtfulness, and old fashioned graciousness. In her family, she was the "glue" that held it all together with wisdom and love.

She is survived by her sister, Ruth Adams (husband Charles F. Adams) of San Francisco, eldest son, Brooks Hatch (wife Janis) of La Conner, WA, daughter Amy Hughes (husband Robert) of Burlington, WA, and daughter Julie McGowan (husband Patrick) of Fircrest, WA, as well as grandchildren, Chad Patrick McGowan, Lisa Michelle Hatch and David Brooks Hatch; and great-grandchildren, Miles and Zachery Hatch.

She will be sorely missed by countless friends and remains loved beyond words by all her family.

Services will be held at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, La Conner, Thursday at 2 p.m. September 3, 2009.

Donations to Hospice or Island Hospital of Anacortes are Amy's wishes.

Arrangements are under the care of Kern Funeral Home.