Hazel, the beloved deer who was
rescued and nursed back to health by a local family, had become a
local legend. She has a story.
And she created a connection between neighbors, friends and families
that will likely never be forgotten.
Hazel's story
About three years ago, Eric Leever
found a tiny deer, trapped in a hole and she didn’t look like she
had much of a chance at survival. Between Leever and his wife,
Sherry, they spent countless hours bottle feeding the tiny creature.
Then there were issues that needed to be addressed to get the little
deer to go to the bathroom. All of that took a lot of time and
patience, 24 hours a day worth of time and patience.
“She probably only stood around fifteen to eighteen inches tall and
her ears were really crinkled up like she was dehydrated,” said
Leever, upon seeing her at first sight. “She was bottle fed but
never was she penned up. She was always free range and for over a
year she never ventured very far from home. She would stay under our
pool deck at night. As she grew she would show up and steal snacks
from our grandkids and if you weren’t paying attention she would
make herself right at home and come in the house or get in your
vehicle if she was given the opportunity. She would come to our
picture window or bedroom window daily to get our attention. As she
grew older, she would take off for a day or two here and there. Then
it turned into sometimes a week or two but she would always come
back.”
“She had a fawn last year and we thought that might be reason enough
to stay away but she continued to come back and frequented multiple
other families as well,” explained Leever.
Eventually, Hazel, who was named for the coon dog that Sherry’s dad
had growing up, began to wander a bit farther.
Photo provided by Eric Leever
Leever added, “There’s nobody that
would have enjoyed Hazel more than her dad who passed, so without
any thought, Hazel it was.”
Once Hazel’s adventures far and wide began, so did the phone calls.
Just like when a kid gets in trouble and the parents get phone
calls, Hazel was no exception.
“In this past year she made
multiple trips to town and our phones would blow up but like we told
everyone, “She’s a wild animal (kinda) and we can’t control what she
does or where she goes,” said Leever. “One occasion we got a call
from some friends that live about five miles to the east and the
next day we got a call that she was at the Sportsman Club, which is
about seven to eight miles west of us. Then she showed back up at
our house the same night.”
Hazel was just out there making friends.
“I couldn’t begin to guess how many people she met or the smiles she
put on faces,” said Leever. “She was so loving and absolutely loved
attention. The last time she was actually at our house was
Christmas. Then she headed to town and didn’t look back. I still saw
her every week and if I didn’t, our phones were always ringing and
people felt the need to keep us posted. To say she was pretty
special is an understatement.”
Leever added that between family, friends, neighbors and everyone in
town she has to be one of the most photographed deer ever.
And here’s a fun fact about Hazel: she was almost in a movie! In
January of 2023 a movie producer from Chicago contacted him about
having Hazel appear in a movie that needed a doe. The movie producer
was willing to drive to the Leever’s house to do a location shoot
but they needed one more thing: snow. However, the weather did not
cooperate and hence Hazel’s movie career never got off the ground.
While Hazel could’ve been a Hollywood star, she was undoubtedly
content covering all the ground she could right here in Logan
County. But then again, given her ability to show up at parties and
around the holidays, she probably would’ve enjoyed the Hollywood
scene.
Without a doubt Hazel was well taken care of at the Leever’s house
in the country, where she had the grandkids like Cope, Brexton,
River, Crue, Cove and Kason to spoil her, but she seemed to yearn
for new friends and she found plenty of them.
Hazel found her “homes away from home” in the city limits of
Lincoln, where she was particularly fond of the people and pets in
the Tulip Drive and Sycamore Lane neighborhoods.
Ron Budd, who is one of the original residents of the neighborhood,
said he recalls seeing Hazel laying on his back deck one day and he
tried to shoo her away but she would not move.
Pretty soon word got around, as did Hazel, and she was beginning to
make her presence known as the friendly deer who went door-to-door
begging for food with those big, brown eyes.
Tucked away on Tulip Drive near Ron Budd are neighbors Marjorie
Blackford and Jerry Reichle. It’s safe to say Hazel stole their
hearts pretty quick.
“Oh my, what can I say about Hazel?! She was just magical!” said
Marjorie Blackford. “The first time I saw her was a couple weeks
before Thanksgiving last year. I had not heard of her until I posted
pictures of her on Facebook and then I learned the “Story of Hazel.”
“Several members of my family started messaging me that they were
excited to meet her on Thanksgiving Day,” continued Blackford. “I
kept trying to tell them that I highly doubted that she would come
around. But just as we sat down for dinner, there was Hazel. We had
some apples, so my kids, younger and not so young ones, were able to
enjoy the awesomeness of Hazel. She loved people, loved hugs, loved
petting and even loved our dog. I’m sure her visit will be
remembered and the topic of Thanksgiving dinner memories for many
years to come.”
Photo provided by Marjorie Blackford
Blackford expressed the sentiments
of the entire community eloquently when she offered this:
“What a gift she was to our community. We sure do miss her. I still
look out the window and expect to see her strolling through the
neighborhood. Such a gentle creature. Definitely a gift from God to
the people of Lincoln.”
Jerry Reichle lives next door to
Blackford and she would often alert him when Hazel was in the
neighborhood. Reichle always had snacks handy for his new
four-legged friend.
“Hazel loved apples,” said Reichle. “All kinds. I once got her to
eat seven at one time. I also got her to eat pears. She didn’t like
nuts very well. She ate a few shelled walnuts once but I couldn’t
get her to eat them again.”
“I couldn’t see when Hazel would come to my front door,” explained
Reichle, “but my neighbor could so she would call me and let me know
and I’d go out and feed Hazel. As much as she wanted food, I think
she also wanted to be petted. I think she enjoyed that almost as
much.”
“A few times, when I’d walk the high school track in the morning,
I’d see Hazel laying in Jim Ireland’s back yard. Ron Budd said he
found her in the morning sometimes sleeping on his back patio,” said
Reichle of Hazel’s sleeping quarters.
“We know Hazel could hop fences because she was in Marjorie
Blackford’s fenced backyard all the time,” said Reichle. “Hazel got
along with dogs well too. Blackford’s dog, Bubby, would get out
sometimes and just run up to Hazel, tail a-waggin. Hazel never
budged. I once went out and heard the two dogs in my neighbor’s
backyard barking and found Hazel with her legs up on the fence and
the dogs running around barking, not menacingly though.”
“I had hopes of having Hazel around for many years to come.”
Tricia Goldsberry is just one of the many residents on Sycamore Lane
who really enjoyed seeing and feeding Hazel. Like her neighbors,
Goldsberry feels sadness now that Hazel is gone.
“She loved grapes and the last time she came to our house there were
only a few grapes left in the bag and she had her whole little snout
on her nose in the bag trying to get more,” said Goldsberry.
“I know she would bed down in Mr. Hopp's backyard many nights,”
continued Goldsberry. “And she loved to play with my dogs. She would
run and play with them along the fence lines. She was like
clockwork. About every two to three days she would come to visit.
She would come right up to our door so we could see she was out
there.”
“Our family loved her,” Goldsberry said, sincerely. “Her simple face
brought joy to everyone. She even affected the lives of people not
in Lincoln. My stepdaughter and her family from Springfield got to
meet her too. They came for Thanksgiving and Hazel showed up. My
stepdaughter got her picture with her."
“Recently Hazel had been jumping the fence in our yard and our
neighbor’s yard,” said Goldsberry. “My husband, John, had to pat
her on her butt to get her out.”
Hazel just kept moving on. Spreading the love and searching for more
food.
When Hazel wandered to the King residence down on Sycamore Lane, she
found another family who adored her and she did not have a problem
making herself at home.
“Hazel was the sweetest girl and my
whole family loved her,” said Kim King. “She would just show up at
our back door. We would feed her apples and tomatoes. She would eat
an entire apple out of our hands. She would sleep under our
trampoline. I think she first showed up at our house around
Halloween last year. It had been a rough year already for the kids
because we lost both of our dogs, Thor and Bella.”
“Sometimes we would see Hazel going through dumpsters and
everybody’s trash in the neighborhood,” added King. “We didn’t want
her to go through the trash for food so we would just talk to her
and say, ‘Hey, Hazel, we’ll feed you fruits and vegetables.’ And she
seemed to listen.”
The King family had just fed Hazel the night before…
Ron and Vicky Klokkenga also looked forward to Hazel’s daily visits
on Sycamore Lane. They had just seen Hazel the day before she died.
“The Chester East Lincoln bus went by at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday and
Hazel was laying in our front yard,” said Ron Klokkenga. “We heard
the kids yelling 'a deer, a deer.’ The driver slowed down so they
could see Hazel. That is what we will cherish about Hazel. Bringing
joy to others.”
“When Vicky was scooping ice and snow this winter from the front
walk, Hazel came up and put her hoof on the snow shovel, like she
wanted the noise to stop and now play,” added Klokkenga.
“One time Hazel was across the street by the side of Dan Hopp's
house when I came out the front door and rattled a package of
cookies,” continued Klokkenga. “Her tail went up and she ran over to
me for a cookie. Just like a little kid.”
“Many times she would come over to our backyard, lay down, and look
out at the timber across the fields,” recalled Klokkenga. “One day
she was laying there for over an hour. It made us feel like she
thought our area was a safe place for her.”
[to top of second column] |
Photo provided by Eric Leever
Hazel also found a
friend in Boris, the big, playful dog on the street corner.
Debra McAdams, Boris’ owner, has lots of pictures of Hazel and
Boris.
“When we first met Hazel she was visiting other neighbors down
the road and she walked out of that yard and into the street,
right up to Boris,” said McAdams. “Boris loves other animals,
too.” “Once
she was in my front yard and ate the carrots (noses) off the
snowmen,” McAdams laughed. “It was so funny and I was happy for her
to have a snack.”
“Then I found her in my back yard after work one day,” McAdams
recalled. “I went back there and asked her what she was doing and
laughed because at first I had no idea how she got there because my
fence in the yard is a six-foot fence. And then I realized the
neighbor’s boarding fence on one side is only three or four feet
tall, as is their very back fence. I even checked my cameras and
sure enough she had hopped over their fence, into my yard and was
just having herself a nice visit. Then she didn’t want to leave my
yard.”
Photo provided by Debra McAdams
“I also bought a deer Christmas decor
this year because of Hazel,” said McAdams. “It was that same day
after setting it up that she came to investigate it. After seeing
it, she seemed to approve. Every year now that decor will be in her
memory for sure. She was sweet to us and made our day every time we
saw her. It was like she was just stopping by to check in sometimes
or just to say hi. She let Boris know who’s boss when he would sniff
too aggressively. She would gently push him away with her hooves.
She found a happy medium behind the fence, playing with him just
like she did the other neighbor’s dogs.”
“She surprised me one time while I was loading stuff into my truck,”
recounted McAdams. “I turned around and she was literally right
there. I even jumped. I was like “Hazel!” In my country accent, I
was just laughing, telling her, ‘Don’t be scaring me like that!’ We
all just cared for her and got really close with her.”
Carol Boss lives just a stone’s throw from McAdams and she also
connected with Hazel.
“I met Hazel about a year ago,” said Boss. "She would come over and
visit me many times. I believe she slept in the field right next to
my house and behind the baseball fields at the Rec. I loved her
visits. She would let me pet her and hug her and she would follow me
around the yard like a dog. Once she came to my front door like she
was knocking. I opened the screen and I think she wanted to come in.
She was right on my doorstep. I work from home and one day as I was
working, I looked out my picture window in the living room and she
was standing right there, looking in like she was looking for me. I
went out and petted her and talked to her that day. That was the
last time I saw her. It breaks my heart that she got hit by a car. I
cried like a baby when I heard. I am sure gonna miss those visits.”
Down the block and around the bend is another resident who grew fond
of Hazel in just the short time she made the neighborhood her home
away from home.
“Hazel was a neighborhood gem!” said Jennifer Sawicki. “I miss her
already. We have so many pictures and videos. She was so comfortable
in our neighborhood and would bed down in our yards. She would run
back and forth along the fences, playing with our dogs. We also
witnessed her get the “zoomies” and run around about five houses
several times, jumping some small fences. She would then pant with
her tongue out. We found her twice in our fenced yard, probably
because of that. But she knew to come and wait at our back fence
gate, looking in the ‘dog window’ and our front door to get apples
and acorns. But her favorite treat she loved was soft peppermints,
like horses do. We could barely get them opened as she forced her
face into your hands and pockets. If she was across the cul-de-sac
or in another yard, I could call her name and toss an apple in the
air and she would literally run to me. She would come onto my porch
and look right into the front door and she would lick it too.”
“She brought so much joy to us all,” Sawicki went on to say. “I have
my husband videoing her on the front porch and the cameras videoing
them. Also the night before she died, Hazel was bedded down in Mr.
Hopp's backyard and when I got back from the gym, I walked over to
her and gave her a handful of Ritz crackers and I rubbed her head.”
Sawicki’s friend, DeAnn Cooper, met
Hazel once on Sycamore Lane and observed, “I was only privileged to
see her in person one time, but she was just such a gentle soul. So
relaxed and comfortable around people. I loved looking into her
deep, brown eyes and talking to her. It was as if she understood
what I was saying. I feel lucky to have encountered her. She chose
humans as her people.”
Hazel’s people also included the kids at Lincoln Community High
School. She was known to show up at track and football practices and
there is even a video where Hazel looks as if she is preparing to do
the hurdles. She was even staying in her own lane, prancing on the
track.
LCHS Track and Field coach Jenna Crombie said, “Hazel was magical!
She walked around the track and football field like it was her home.
She really liked to hang out by the long jump pits and rumor had it
she loved M&M’s.”
Crombie noted that track athlete Mallory Short had a special love
for her. Short saw Hazel a lot last summer and Crombie said she felt
like she was in a Disney movie.
“Hazel came to a couple of our summer track practices and in season
too,” said Short. “It was always so funny when we would be running
our workouts and she would join in and run with us. She always
seemed to show up when we needed her during the harder workouts. She
could distract us and our coaches so we could get a little more rest
time during our workout. She was so cute and always made track
practices more fun and interesting.”
Interestingly, Hazel made her way over to Pulaski Street to visit
people there too.
Neighbors Jennie Brosman and Phyllis Welch got to know Hazel very
well.
“She spent hours at our house and came to the door for food and
petting,” said Brosman. “We just loved her and our hearts broke when
we got the news.”
“Hazel was a very special creature,” said Phyllis Welch. “She was at
my house a lot. She would follow me into my garage and didn't want
to come out. If I went inside she would look in my patio door. She
loved grapes. She will be missed.”
As Leever noted, Hazel would come and go from their house frequently
late last year. It was during this time that Hazel stopped in one
farmer’s field and she captured his attention so much that he quit
farming for a hot minute and he gave her the attention and the food
that she was craving.
Greg Rademaker recalled his first encounter with Hazel in the field
that day.
“I was cutting beans in the field by the old Maple Club and there
she was,” said Rademaker. “She appeared out of nowhere. I got out of
the combine and walked over to my truck to get her an ear of corn.
She walked over to me and I fed her the corn. Then she was gone.”
Rademaker did manage to get a video of their meeting in the field.
Hazel would eventually find where Rademaker lived and she visited
his home twice. One time she just came over to their pool and walked
right up to Rademaker and his wife, Gayal.
A third time when Hazel came over, Rademaker wanted his son, Greyson
and his girlfriend, Erin, to meet her. They were petting her when
Rademaker decided to give her some little dog treats. Hazel
immediately went running over to him and the treats.
“She loved those little dog treats,” he said, adding, “She was just
so friendly.”
It was Rademaker’s friend, Tony Meyer, who believes he was the last
one to feed and pet Hazel the morning that she passed.
“She was here at 6:50 a.m. that morning,” said Meyer, another
Sycamore Lane resident.
Hazel knew Meyer’s morning routine. He gets up early every morning
and goes to his garage. Hazel would be waiting for him. She loved to
get into people’s garages after all. And just like everyone else,
Meyer has pictures, videos and stories featuring Hazel.
“She got in our yard once,” said Meyer. “The gate was left open and
she was walking around on our inground pool cover. I had to coax her
off with food. Regularly she would walk up to our front porch and
set the ring doorbell off. My wife would go out and give her a
snack. She loved to be petted and have her ears rubbed. We are going
to miss her.”
Miss her is an understatement. Her loss is huge to not only the
family of Eric and Sherry Leever and their friends, but also the
entire community of Lincoln.
It’s only been a week and the sadness
is still very real.
Meanwhile, there is one man who saw Hazel take her last breath and
he did the right thing.
Upon seeing the accident on Limit Street, Robert Morrow stayed with
Hazel, comforting her till the end.
Morrow just happens to be a resident of Sycamore Lane and just like
the others, he was a friend to Hazel.
“We absolutely loved Hazel around our neighborhood and especially
when she came to our home,” said Morrow. “She was such a regular
around our house I had gotten to the point where I would just look
up and say, “Oh hey Hazel,” and she would follow me around the house
while doing outside chores. I have tons of photos with her and the
family. The kids really loved her. My oldest, Olivia, would always
make sure they had “healthy” food for her. She loved graham crackers
and my youngest, Xavier, would stand on the porch and feed her. She
really liked Olivia’s boyfriend, Hayden. He would give her more pets
than anyone else. My wife, Amanda, who has always been a little
skittish around animals, even loved her.”
“She was an amazing creature and truly a part of the community,”
continued Morrow. “It’s a lovely neighborhood here and she made it
even better, if even only for a short time. One of the best moments
of this last winter was watching her across the street. The
neighbors had their grandchildren outside building snowmen and Hazel
was there prancing and jumping around playing in the snow with
them.”
Hazel even captured the attention of Lincoln’s mayor, Tracy Welch,
who caught her walking down the alley behind his Ninth Street home.
Mayor Welch has donated a memorial brick in her honor at the Forever
Home Cemetery at 1801 N. Lincoln Parkway. The cemetery is affiliated
with the Humane Society of Logan County.
“Hazel was a gentle spirit that touched the lives of so many
residents and I know that her presence will be missed,” said Mayor
Welch.
There is also a fundraiser in Hazel’s name set up at the Humane
Society of Logan County.
If you wish to make a donation in Hazel’s memory, you can mail your
payment to:
Humane Society of Logan County
P.O. Box 404
Lincoln IL 62656
Or use the HSLC PayPal account.
Or drop your donation off at:
1801 N. Lincoln Parkway
Lincoln IL 62656
However, Hazel’s final resting spot is
back with the family that saved her life. As Eric Leever got word
that morning that Hazel had been struck by a vehicle, he was able to
retrieve her and give her the proper burial spot on his property.
It’s a comfort knowing she will always be remembered and cherished
by those who loved her first.
Finally, thank you to the Leever family for sharing Hazel with the
community. Everyone shares in your loss.
[Teena Lowery] |
