Viola June (Harris) Hatfield

Viola June (Harris) Hatfield will be interred in a graveside memorial service at 1:00 pm, Friday, March 10, 2023 at Bluebonnet Hills Memorial Park, 5725 Colleyville Blvd. in Colleyville, Texas.

June was born at home, the third of seven children, on November 14, 1931 in Dunnell, Minnesota on the farm that her parents were renting as tenant farmers. When her birth was formally recorded, her mother reversed her first and middle name as "June Viola" which went unnoticed until sometime in the 1980's when she applied for her first passport. As she was listed as "Viola June" on all official government records, property deeds, her business licenses and permits, and drivers license; she had to petition the Brazoria County (TX) District Court to formally change her name to Viola June to match the name she had been raised with and used since her birth. She passed from this earthly life on March 3, 2023 in Dallas, Texas.

She married Ralph W. Hatfield of Waco, Texas in June 1954 after a courtship that began with a meeting in a Minneapolis MN tavern where they were both enjoying a night out. Ralph was on leave from his military service in the US Air Force while stationed at a military base in Wisconsin at the time of their meeting. June was a September 1950 graduate of Minneapolis (MN) Business College and was working in an office clerical position in Minneapolis, a job that she openly stated throughout her life as one she despised.

Upon their marriage, she and Ralph moved in with his parents in Robinson, Texas and lived there for a short period of time until they rented a small five room house on the south side of Waco, Texas. In 1964, after the passing of Ralph's father and his mother's retirement and relocation to the Lake Buchanan region of the Texas Hill Country, their family moved back to the family homestead in Robinson TX, where they lived until life changes took them to Lake Jackson, Brazoria County, Texas in the summer of 1969. She lived in Lake Jackson until 2011 when she relocated to Palestine, Texas. She permanently relocated to Dallas, Texas in 2015 where she resided at Meadowstone Place, an independent senior living community, until her passing.
June was one that consistently injected herself into situations where she thought she could help others, whether solicited or not. She openly admitted that she frequently took her lunch breaks in Minneapolis to cross the street to the major department store and walk through the ladies ready-to-wear departments to offer unsolicited advice to other shoppers on how to build a wardrobe or choose an outfit. She parlayed this to a very successful business enterprise in later years.
In the mid-1960's, June was the operating manager of the Parish Bookstore at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Waco, Texas for a period of several years. After the family's relocation to Lake Jackson, Texas in 1969, she began working part-time at the Driftwood Flower and Gift Shop on Plantation Drive in Lake Jackson. In 1971, with Ralph's assistance, she began the journey to bring quality National brands of cosmetics, fragrances, and ladies apparel to Southern Brazoria County. In the Fall of 1971, she opened a women's specialty store, under the original name "The Cosmetic Corner" which she changed to "The Corner". Her boutique successfully introduced many nationally known cosmetic brands and fragrances to the Southern Brazoria County population and became one of the two "go-to" flagship stores in the Greater Brazosport area for quality women's apparel, cosmetics, fragrances, and accessories. She closed The Corner in 1996 and attempted to retire.

Not finding enough notoriety in retirement, she reentered the spotlight in 2000 by purchasing ScissorTail Quilts, a quilting boutique. In 2005, she sold ScissorTail Quilts and began working at Brazosport College until moving to Palestine in 2011.
June was a member of and actively participated in Toastmasters International and Soroptimist International. She was a founding member of the Lake Jackson Business and Professional Association and, eventually, was elected as President of the Association. She also maintained a membership in the Brazosport Chamber of Commerce.

June and her Lake Jackson business colleague, Jack Reid, brainstormed and created the Lake Jackson Festival of Lights which is still an annual Christmastime event in the downtown Lake Jackson area. She and Jack had the operation planned, funded, wired and in place prior to getting City approval, which was granted by then city manager, A. A. MacLean, with a shake of his head and "guess so" as the deed had been done and was fully in place at no cost to the City at that time.
June is a registered member both The Daughters of the American Colonists and The Daughters of the American Revolution; however, she had to find a secondary family connection to qualify her right to membership in either organization as the initial attempts for membership revealed a family member that was a deserter from the Revolutionary Army.

June was preceded in death by her parents, Looman George Harris and Doris Maxine (Smith) Harris. She was also preceded in death by all of her siblings: Betty Lou (Harris) Zvorak; Lois Maxine (Harris) Heinis; Jessica Mae (Harris) Blakey; Naomi Ruth (Harris) Cyr; Joyce Elaine (Harris) Klante; and James Looman Harris. She was also preceded by the death of a son, Lou Alan Hatfield, in February 1957, who passed the day after his birth due to delivery complications and her former spouse, Ralph Wayne Hatfield, with whom she remained friends subsequent to their divorce.

She is survived by her sons - Scott W. Hatfield and wife, Amy, and Jeffrey D. Hatfield and wife, Jamie; her grandchildren, Bryan Hatfield (and wife, Patricia), Paige (Hatfield) McSpadden (and husband, Seth), and Jacob Hatfield; and two great-grandsons ... as well as a significant number of nieces, nephews, and cousins to whom she devoted significant time, attention, and mental energy towards during her entire life.

The family requests that any memorial in June's honor be directed to either The Senior Source (3910 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas TX 75219) (www.theseniorsource.org); St. Alban's Episcopal Church (2900 W. Waco Drive, Waco TX 76710) (www.stalbanswaco.org); or St. Phillip's Episcopal Church (106 E Crawford St, Palestine, Texas 75801) (www.stphillipspalestine.com).