Waltraud Hatchell, 77, of Lampasas, died on Sept. 16, 2025. She was born on May 21, 1948, in Mannheim, Germany to Josef and Klara Palluch.
Graveside services will be held at Center Cemetery in Lometa on Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. Sneed-Carnley Funeral Chapel has charge of arrangements.
Waltraud grew up in Germany and met Ralph Wayne Hatchell while he was serving in the U.S. Army. They married when he was 19, and she was 18. They moved around a bit due to his military service but settled in Lampasas eventually.
She grew up in a large family and had many siblings, and they all lived on a ship together due to her father’s job. She learned to work hard at an early age but spent most of her adulthood taking care of her family. There was a time when she cleaned at Second Baptist Church in Lampasas, a job she thoroughly enjoyed.
Waltraud enjoyed her German heritage and loved listening to her ’70s and ’80s German pop music, reading her German novels and romance novels. She enjoyed her coloring books, and made sure she tuned in each morning and lunchtime for the local news on KCYL.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph Wayne Hatchell, and her brother-in-law, Charles Hatchell.
Survivors include her sons Wayne Hatchell and wife Kristy, and Corey Hatchell; daughter, Dolores Hanlon; six grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild and another on the way; and numerous
