Hazel Mae Sutter was so many wonderful things. She was a great-great-grandmother, a swing dancer, a school cafeteria worker, a Dust-Bowl survivor and a neighborhood-croquet-tournament shark. Above all, though, she was unflappably kind, warm and understanding -- beloved both by her closest family members and those she'd just met. She died in her sleep on Monday at her home in Sand Springs. She was 96.

The fifth of nine siblings, Hazel was born on December 16, 1918, and grew up on a farm in Iola, Kansas, where her older sister, Golda, was her teacher in the town's one-room schoolhouse.

"I learned to cook when I just couldn't even reach the stove," Hazel said in a 2008 family video. That talent, which she acquired from her own grandmother, served Hazel for a lifetime. She managed cafeterias at Lanier Elementary School and Will Rogers High School, in Tulsa, and was famous in her family for homemade noodles and apple pie.

In 1938, she went on a blind date with Robert Maxwell Sutter. Six months later, they were married, and remained together for 53 years, until Robert's death in 1992. They had three sons: Maxwell, Charles and David.

"It amazed all my neighborhood buddies how she could do the Charleston," Max said in a family video. "I've seen her operate a Yo-Yo that put all of us to shame. She showed us a trick or two. She was high-spirited and she enjoyed life to the fullest."

"In the hot, Oklahoma sun, we would go outside and we would play croquet together," Charles said in a family recording. "We would just smoke past everybody. We were so good I can't even recall losing."

"I can remember her laughing and smiling when she was trying to be tough, or be mean, or be a disciplinarian," said David. "She was just so sweet and such a kind spirit. She just went with the flow and was always supportive."

Hazel and Robert lived in western Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, where she recalled dust storms so thick they blotted out light from street lamps.

They later made their home in Tulsa.

Hazel will be remembered as quick to smile and impossible to anger -- a bright, gentle and unconditionally loving person who cared for everyone around her, never complained and walked unaided well into her 90s.

She also traveled extensively, including to Germany, South Korea, and New Zealand, where Charles worked as an attorney.

Hazel is preceded in death by her parents, Ethel and William "Harry" Fronk; husband, Robert; siblings Alice Fronk, Golda Chappell, Mary Lou Clopine and Glenn, Walter, Edward, Jack and Robert Fronk; and son, Charles Sutter. She is survived by sons Max and David Sutter, their wives Karen and Jane, and daughter-in-law Susan; grandchildren Angela Walker and Stephen, Brandon, Derrick, John and Ben Sutter; as well as seven great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren, many of whom will carry on her tasty recipes, gentle temperament and love for croquet.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the chapel at Memorial Park Cemetery, 5111 S. Memorial Dr., Tulsa. A viewing will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Moore Funeral Home, 9350 E. 51st St., Tulsa.