Violet Amelia (Hunnel) Hughes

Violet Amelia was born on September 10, 1940 in Grand Junction, CO. The family lived in Grand
Junction for a short period of time before moving to Redondo Beach, CA where she grew up.
Violet graduated from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach in 1958. Soon after graduating from high school, Violet moved to Tucson, AZ and started to work for the telephone company.

While working at the telephone company, Violet became friends with Mary Hughes and they both enjoyed going out bowling. One night Mary’s brother, Paul, joined them to keep score. Paul met Violet at the bowling alley and their lifelong relationship was off and running. Paul and Violet were married on November 24, 1961 at Broadway Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona. Paul and Violet were married for 60 years.

The couple have three children, Martin Hughes (Sandy Hughes), Ruth McBride (Kelly McBride), and Darin Hughes (Kim Hughes). Violet was blessed with six grandchildren: Sean Hughes, Wesley Hughes, Mattie (McBride) Stebbins, McKenna Hughes, Simon Hughes, and Cody McBride, who passed away in 2017.

Violet absolutely loved to cook. No matter what the occasion or excuse, she would make a feast for all to enjoy. And, if you ever walked away hungry from a meal Violet prepared, it was your own fault, because there was always plenty of food on the table. Violet’s other great passion was hummingbirds. The house is filled with anything and everything 'hummingbird'. Violet loved to go to the hummingbird festival and banding event at Sipe White Mountain Wildlife area, where one of her fondest memories was releasing a hummingbird after it was banded.

Violet also loved to fish. Embarrassing others out fishing was her forte and she did it often. One afternoon several anglers were fishing and mentioned that it had been a slow day. Within minutes of wetting a line, Violet was pulling in a fish and the crowd of men gave her a cheer. Shortly thereafter, she pulled in another and then another, and the cheers faded a little each time. After catching her limit in a short period of time, the crowd gave her a rousing applause as she packed to leave.

Paul and Vi spent countless hours looking for wildlife. Living in Show Low gave them the opportunity to see all kinds of animals from the front door to Big Lake. Although Vi never hunted with a gun, she was passionate about hunting for a glimpse of a deer or elk through her
binoculars.

Violet passed away on August 11, 2022, and she will be missed by all who knew her.