Hazel Thomas Hagans

In the small south-central Alabama town of Greensboro, in the 1940’s, there was a Five and Dime store on Main Street. Fourteen-year-old Hazel Hagans worked there when not in school. She remembers that when President Roosevelt came on the radio to talk about progress in the war everyone in the store would stop and gather around the radio to hear what he had to say. And then they got on with things. That is the world that Hazel came from. A world of sacrifice and obligation for a great and noble cause. She was part of the Greatest Generation, the generation that survived the Great Depression, fought and won WWII and then built the most important republic the world has ever seen.

Hazel was born on March 27, 1931, in Uniontown, Alabama, to Frank and Irma Rayfield Thomas. She is the last of 9 brothers and sisters. Hazel was pre-deceased by her husband, Rodney H. Hagans Sr. She is survived by her son Rodney H. Hagans Jr. and his wife Cheryl, her daughter Hazel Bethany Shoff and her husband Wesley, grandson Dr. Hugh Shoff, his wife Lisa and their daughter Julia and grandson Nathaniel Shoff.

Hazel was raised in Greensboro and after High School she met and married Rodney Sr., a veteran of the First Marine Division in the Pacific in WW ll. They first moved to Tuscaloosa, AL where Rodney earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Alabama. They then moved to Selma, AL where Rodney taught math and coached football at Selma High School while Hazel worked local secretarial jobs. Hazel’s children, Rodney and Bethany were born while they were in Selma.

Rodney’s work took the family from Tampa Florida to Montreal Canada to Central Pennsylvania and then Macon, Georgia where Hazel worked for The Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company. At retirement Hazel settled in Jasper to live with Bethany and her family. Hazel spent her last three years at Water Oak Villa in Jasper, and the family wants to thank their staff for all the good care they gave her. Especially Lilly, a wonderful caretaker and a very loving companion. Hazel takes with her many fond memories of her special friend Bobby Sarratt, with whom she shared many great adventures.

Hazel was smart and winsome and grounded and practical and gracious and strong. She was a golfer, a bowler and a great southern cook. But above all, a wonderful wife and mother. To her son she was a typer/editor of theology papers and a trusted confidant for wisdom and advice. When Bethany decided to go to cosmetology school Hazel joined her and they went together. She was the epitome of grandmothers to her grandsons. Hazel liked fried seafood joints and cooking Wednesday night family dinners. She loved music. Though her favorite music was gospel quartet singing, she liked Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Alison Krauss, Kenny Rogers and even a little Keith Richards. There was something about high lonesome voices and harmonies that spoke to Hazel. She walked and knew the name and personality of every dog in her neighborhood. She was a fan of Rory Mcllroy, the Atlanta Braves and The University of Alabama Crimson Tide. She had a good sense of humor. She could diagram a sentence, knew how to use the word “surely” correctly and understood possessive plurals. She drove a school bus on snowy mountain roads in central Pennsylvania and operated a Hyster forklift for Brown and Williamson. She suffered fools well and even loved a couple. You would want her in your foxhole. This and so much more was the fourteen-year-old girl who worked at the Five and Dime and stood with the others around the radio listening to Franklin Roosevelt talk about progress in the war. And then they got on with things. Hazel is now in the loving arms of our Lord Jesus, fully known and knowing fully what we only know in part. And she is getting on with things.

A memorial service will be held December 6th, 2:00 pm at the Jasper First Methodist Church. Reverend James Johnson officiating. After which the family will welcome friends to a dessert social in the church fellowship hall.