Mary, Hazel’s daughter, called to let us know that our beloved friend, Hazel, passed away @4:20PM on Friday, May 15, ’09.
We have been in Christian friendship with Hazel for many years. She has truly been an intercessor for our ministry and each of us. She has been a counsellor, a Mother and Christian friend. I have so enjoyed talking and praying with her weekly and sometimes more often. Our pattern as part of our church outreach was to call her each Sunday and sing “Amazing Grace” among many of her favorite hymns.
We’ve enjoyed shopping for her and finding her the latest fashions in clothes and hats. She loved hats! We have not words to say how much we will miss her and the outpouring of love she extended to us in so many ways.
Our prayers, thoughts and love now reach out to her family in their time of sorrow and grieving as well as rejoicing knowing their Mother has made it safely to her Eternal Home.
Hazel has lived an exemplary life in her community and you only hear words of praise by all that knew her. She attended church regularly. She worked right up until her last fall when she broke her hip. She always had time for her family and friends.
I know each of you will have a story to write so I will not try to tell all. But, I know I can say for all of us, Hazel, you will truly be missed and we will always love you.
Thanks to her family for allowing us to be a part of Hazel’s life right up to the very last minutes of her life. Blessings to all of you.
We are deeply grieved. Hazel’s arms were outstretched and welcomed all. We looked forward with anticipation to each visit. She wore joy all over her. She embraced others with her joyous hugs. She was a gatherer for others. She gathered toys, house hold items, and pine cones to bless others with, not herself. She was a prayer warrior and called to let you know that she was standing in prayer for you. She lived a humble life serving everyone. We will miss you Hazel a lot. We will miss your embracing hugs. We know you are standing in Jesus’s presence which is joy – exceeding joy to us and your family. The pain of your not being here will be hard. Like Sara says we are so greatlful for her family allowing us to be a part of Hazel’s life.
What I remember about Hazel, is her sweet smile and her wonderful hugs. Anytime, I was in her company, she always hugged and kissed me. Hazel was a woman, who expressed love for others….what a legacy she has left. May God comfort her family, in this time of great loss.
All of Heaven is rejoicing, I know, at Lovely Hazel’s homegoing. Hazel’s wisdom was astounding. She had the Spirit of the living God prompting her at every turn and she listened to Him and spoke wisdom and understanding with such an anointing that one knew she was hearing from the Spirit.
Hazel was an optimist,always joyful, but she was also practical in her outlook on the affairs of life. She was a woman of good works, visiting the elderly in nursing homes and hospitals and interceding for our ministry and others, also.
We love Hazel with the love of the Lord as a true Christian sister and feel a supernatural bonding with her and her family that can only be engineered by the Lord God. Hazel we miss you, very much.
God bless her lovely children and grandchildren and may the God of all comfort and consolation minister to their hearts as they mourn her passing. And some day we will all meet in that Heavenly City that Sara’s Mother wrote about…”.where angels are constantly treading and the Lamb furnishes the Light!” Hazel’s new home!!!
Hazel lived in times and community where it would have been easy to be prejudice and many were and are. I never saw or felt or believed that Hazel saw color of skin. Hazel always saw the heart. She could read a man or woman by their character and their walk with God. She never ever minded telling you if she thought something was not right. When you would seek her for counsel she had an answer for you. I came to know that was because she was very near to God at all times.
Hazel knew that we loved her so much and would always be upset if we could not get her on the phone that she would call and let us know if she would be away from home any length of time. When she would go out of town to visit her children she would let us know and say “I will call you from their home.” We just felt that she thought of us as family. What a marvelous outstanding Lady.
We give God thanks for the years that we had to learn and train under the teachings of Hazel.
My Song For Hazel
Your smiling face
Your warm embrace
Loving generosity
Imprinted on my memory.
Your gentle love
Sent to us from above.
A heart that cared,
Hands that shared.
Your Father’s heart,
The prayers you prayed
Will be remembered
For all my days.
We’ll miss you though
We know your where
The sun never sets
And there’s never a care.
For the springtime of your life
Has really just begun
Heavenly choirs are singing welcome
For the Son has brought you home.
Hazel All Dressed in Glory
By Rena K. Oynes
From the midst of a wedding
came a lady of ebony beauty
Greeting us all with hugs and kisses
Her granddaughter with peering eyes was not shy
And having taken lesson from her grandmother
was just as warm natured as she
Our hearts were like magnets forever bond together
The link being Jesus who knotted the ribbon of love
We visited and sang Amazing Grace and Jesus Love You Hazel
Several times a year
She loved every song
We were her dailylily choir
Come to bless our dear Hazel
Who blessed us with a hug and smile
Her eyes were diamonds set deep
Above her smiling ebony glowing cheeks
The deep of the deep of Jesus’s Love
Subplanted from Jesus above
Her hands were giving
Pinecones were picked up and inspected
Not one could have a flaw
because they were going to her dailylily group
She stooped and picked each one up with arthritic hand
Not one was to have a flaw
Only the best for her dailylily group.
With joy in her heart and folded hands
She lifted us up daily
Praying for our needs
Checking in often to see what prayers were needed and praise to be given.
What a beautiful ebony lady
Loving and sporting hats like a Queen
Dressing for her Lord each week
As she went to church to honor and praise Jesus
Her Savior and King
Beautiful ebony lady
Dressed for her King
You wore the character of your Savior
And now you are with Him
Mrs. Hazel when she could would call me and sometimes twice a week. She would say “How you doing sweet heart?” And she would always say “I’m praying for you and I love you.” To hear hers was the voice of love and her life was the manifestation of it. I’ll miss you Mrs. Hazel and I love you too! Dorothy
What a beautiful woman of God. Mrs Hazel has transformed from a beautiful woman to a beautiful angel. She is finally face to face with her Heavenly Father who she has prayed to all her life. Her life is now complete. She has won the race. No more pain, no more thirst, no more hunger, no more suffering….. God bless Hazel’s family. Hazel will be missed. Her voice, her smile and her warm hugs and kisses. We thank the Lord for Hazel and her obedient life to the Lord. We will miss you Mrs.Hazel, but we will see you again.
Hazel was a care taker for Warren and Alice Furlough for many years. She was not only one that worked diligently and tirelessly but a trusted friend. She was loyal. She was loving, she was kind and always had a listening ear whether off or on duty. She gave of herself not only to Warren and Alice but family and friends alike.
She spoke often of her family, church and friends. She was very proud of her daughters, son and grand and great grand. She was truly a grand woman!
Hazel was a Proverbs 31 woman. One can only imagine how happy heaven is to have her in their presence now.
OUR AUNT HAZEL/GOD MOTHER,
OUR HEARTS HURT FOR YOU ,YET WE KNOW YOUR SPIRIT REST IN THE
PRESENT OF GOD. OUR AUNT HAZEL WAS MORE AS A MOTHER TO THE CHESSON FAMILY AS WE WERE JUST LITTLE CHILDRED . OUR FATHER LEFT OUR MOTHER WITH 14-CHILDREN AND THERE WAS MANY DAYS AUNT HAZEL FEED US, OPEN HER HOME TO US,ALLOWED HER CHILDREN TO SHARE THEIR CLOTHES WITH US AND ALWAYS MADE US FEEL LOVED
AND WELCOME.HER VOICE, ACTIONS ,KIND AND LOVING HEART ,AND LOVE FOR GOD ASSURED US THAT WE WERE ALWAYS WECOME AT HER HOUSE. SHE ALWAYS TOOK TIME TO SAY” I LOVE YOU”. “YOU TAKE CARE OF YOU SELF “. EACH TIME YOU WERE IN HER PRESENT SHE ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE NOT HUNGRY BY SAYING,”GO IN THE KITCHEN AND GET SOMETHING TO EAT.” SHE WOULD NOT ALLOW YOU TO SAY NO. AUNT HAZEL AWAYS FOUND SOMETHING GOOD TO SAY ABOUT PEOPLE EVEN THOUGH BAD WAS FACEING HER. DURING HER SICKNESS SHE NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT PAIN, NOR LIFE CARE.S. YES AUNT HAZEL WAS AWOMAN OF GOD THAT LOVED HER FAMILY AND EVERY ONE SHE CAME IN CONTACT WITH. IN HER LIFE TIME, AUNT HAZEL TOOK CARE OF A MANY SICK PEOPLE. SHE HAS RAISED 3-BEAUIFUL DAUGHTERS AND 1-SON THAT FAITHFULLY TOOK GOOD CARE OF THEIR MOTHER ESPEACILLY DURING HER ILLNESS.
HER LIFE HAS ENDED ON THIS EARTH BUT,AUNT HAZEL LOVE REMAINS IN OUR HEARTS FORVER! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH BUT, GOD HAD JOY IN YOU LEAVING THIS SINFUL WOULD. WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN IN THAT GREAT GRTTING UP DAY WHEN JESUS RETURN TO EARTH TO RAPTURE
HIS SAINTS! JUST AS YOU ALWAYS SAY TO US,”I LOVE YOU SWEET”, WE
SAY TO YOU ,”AUNT HAZEL ,REST NOW “, “WE WILL MISS YOU ,AND WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH SWEET HEART!”
Thank you Jessie A. Webb/The Chesson Family for sharing your life experiences about your Aunt Hazel. What a story. It is so encouraging and heart warming to hear these beautiful loving caring stories. Hazel truly loved her family and spoke often of all of you.
We all agree about how her daughters and son were there for her and took such good care of her. What a testimony to Hazel and them.
We send our sympathy, thoughts and prayers to all of you.
I attended Hazel’s Memorial service on Friday afternoon. So nice to see Hazel’s most gracious and loving daughters, son and family. I have been driving for hours today travelling back home and thinking of all the many wonderful things that still can be said of Hazel after many lovely things were said.
She was an excellent communicator. She was a woman of integrity. She was an intercessor. I believe Hazel is with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8KJV “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
What a glorious, godly testimony of a saint of God, our Hazel. She lived the Book of Proverbs. Her wisdom, love and magnaminity is renowned.
Thank you Hazel, now as a part of the cloud of witnesses in Heaven, that you have set an example for all that have known you. What a way to live!
What a way to go….straight into the arms of Jesus Christ. Well done, faithful and godly servant.
HAZEL: ON SILVER WINGS: A TRIBUTE
ON SILVER WINGS SHE FLEW THAT DAY
‘TWAS NOT A LONG OR ARDUOUS FLIGHT
FOR SHE HAD LIVED SO IN THE LIGHT
THAT HOME WAS JUST A BREATH AWAY
ON SILVER WINGS SHE LIVED HER LIFE
FLYING TO THE SIDE OF THOSE IN NEED
SHE WRAPPED THEM IN HER SILVER WINGS
HER FEATHERS COMFORTING IN WORD AND DEED
ON SILVER WINGS SPANNED OUT IN LOVE
SHE MINISTERED AND TALKED OF CHRIST
THEY’D MARVEL AT THIS SILVER BIRD
HER GENEROUS AND “WISDOM” WORD
NOW “SILVER WINGS” HAS FLOWN AWAY
HER MISSION WON, BUT NOT ALL TOLD
FOR WHEN WE MEET IN HEAVEN SOME DAY
WE’LL SEE HER SILVER WINGS HAVE TURNED TO GOLD.
To a fine woman of God among the saints of God, the Cloud of Witnesses now, in Heaven.
Love the poetry by all. They are so fitting for a lady of courage.
As stated by my sister, Jessie A. Webb. Aunt Hazel/Godmother to all of us the daughters and sons of Mary Willis and Theoedore Chesson whom she loved so very much. We all loved her just as much. With all her loving and caring ways will truly be missed in so many ways. Aunt Hazel had a heart of gold for everyone. She saw no color, eveyone was family and friends to her. That is the way she would like for all of us to be to each other. As my dear mother would say,”Love one another and be there for each other”. Aunt Hazel always called and made sure that she would tell you how much she loved you take care of yourself for as long as she could. She was a woman of outstanding qualities and loved by many in her community.
Hi Jessie and Gloria, so sorry about Aunt Hazel. We pray for your strength and courage during this time of sorrow.
Gloria, you stated that she, “Aunt Hazel had a heart of gold for everyone. She saw no color, eveyone was family and friends to her. That is the way she would like for all of us to be to each other.”
I hope and pray that we will strive to honor her with being kind and loving to one another,
Jessie and Gloria, you also sound like loving likenesses of Aunt Hazel. I suppose that that God-kind-of-love is contagious. Your whole family sounds gracious and compassionate, as surely Hazel was. That kind of love strengthens families, bonds the church together and prospers the community. What a lovely legacy Hazel left in her “wake”. She truly was a Proverbs 31 woman.
Hi Jessie and Gloria, I would like to invite you to join us on the daily lily and interact with us on our studies and other community activities that we participate in on this site. Your Aunt Hazel was very active with us here. She would call and we would read the articles to her and she would share her wisdom with us.
I am regretting that she did not have a computer and write the wisdom she shared. I am sad that I did not record her words more often. On some of the older blogs she would comment and I would write her comments. Seems like she left us way to soon.
It would be so nice to have both of you as part of our site here. It would help us to feel close to Hazel.
The Passing of a Friend
In death she lay in sweet repose,
For all the world to see.
Ah, fairer still than any rose,
Or, so she was to me.
I whispered low, “I’ll always care,”
And wondered if she heard me there.
Just days ago when last we spoke,
I would to God I’d known
The silver cord would soon be broke,
And I’d be left alone.
If I had known we neared the end,
I would have said, “I love you, friend.”
Far more than friend she was to me.
Mere words cannot convey.
Nor do they dull the agony,
Of what I feel today.
So gently now I touch her hand,
So glad she’s in a better land.
And I believe when trumpet sounds,
The dead in Christ shall rise.
And spirits freed will know no bounds,
Uniting in the skies.
When these meet Jesus in the air,
I’m sure I’ll meet my good friend there.
William Raymond Waterman, Sr.
Your verses are very appropos to the homegoing of our wonderful friend, Hazel. You seem to have put it lovingly and succinctly, Bill
Thank you.