HUNT, Nina D.

The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona, Friday, January 24, 2014 Nina D. Hunt passed away peacefully on Jan. 21, 2014, at the age of 91. Born Feb. 28, 1922, Nina was the descendant of Arizona pioneers. Her mother was born in Munds Park, the daughter of Mormons who came south from Utah in 1873 and settled at what became known as Mormon Lake. Her father crossed the plains with his family at the age of eight, arriving in the Verde Valley from Missouri in 1875. Nina grew up in the Verde Valley, living mostly at the family ranch on Beaver Creek, frequently summering at Oak Creek or Mormon Lake. When Nina was 16, she met a dashing young man from Oklahoma. Bill and Nina loved going to the dances in the area with their friends. They frequently reminisced about pushing balky old cars up rutted and muddy dirt mountain roads to get to dances at Long Valley, Happy Jack, Mormon Lake, Stoneman Lake, Camp Verde, and many other places around the area. In those days before television, "entertainment" involved socializing with family and friends - playing cards, suppers, potlucks and picnics, dancing, horseracing, the occasional movie, and so forth. Bill and Nina formed friendships, which lasted through the rest of their lives with many of these people. They were soon married and their first son, Clyde, was born in 1940. But life was not always easy. Bill worked on farms and ranches in the Verde Valley, and Nina frequently had to cook for roundup crews or harvest crews, which sometimes exceeded 20 or more men. Nina would sometimes accompany Bill when he hauled cattle to Phoenix, in those days a one-way trip of 8 to 10 hours over nearly impassable dirt roads. Nina displayed her toughness and pioneer heritage over and over. She was a crack shot - she could shoot a lizard out of a tree at 50 paces, and the head off a rattlesnake that was approaching one of her babies. Nina and Bill had three more children - Jerry, Robert and Karen. In 1952, they moved to Lonesome Valley (what is now called Prescott Valley), where Bill worked on the Rafter 11, the Fain Ranch. Bill and Nina remained in the Dewey-Humboldt area for the remainder of their lives. After the children were mostly grown, Nina engaged in a number of activities outside the home. She sewed - at one time she manufactured and marketed a line of ladies' blouses - and she ran a small store in Dewey, and Nina started the Humboldt school lunch program, which she managed for a number of years before retiring. Nina was famous for her cinnamon rolls, and she had to ration what the teachers took to make sure there were some left for the students. Nina was a cherished wife, mother (and mother-in-law) and grandmother. She maintained lasting friendships with many, many people throughout her life, although nearly all of them are now gone. Nina was pre-deceased by Bill and her son, Jerry, both in 2007. She is survived by her son Clyde of Sugarland, Texas, Robert and his wife Denise of Loomis, Calif., and Karen and her husband Ulys of Humboldt; daughter-in-law Sue Hunt of La Barge, Wyo.; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014 in the Humboldt Cemetery. Sunrise Funeral Home assisted the family. Please visit www.sunrisefuneralhome.com to sign her guestbook. Information provided by survivors.