May Hazen

May Bedell Hazen was born on April 28, 1926 in York, Pennsylvania to Earl and Evelyn Bristol Bedell.  Her birth, at the York Country Club, to her semi-pro golfer father Earl and his wife Evelyn was a foreshadow of the life she would live.

During the difficult years of the Great Depression and World War II, May grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire dreaming of becoming a nurse.  She met Robert Louis Hazen while in high school, getting to know him better during his career of service in the United States Army Air Force. Thinking the war would go on and on, they decided to marry on August 2, 1945 before he was to be shipped back to France. Weeks later the war ended and Robert (Bob) never returned overseas.

The couple made their first home in Springfield, Massachusetts living in an old army barracks on the campus of Springfield College where Bob, on the G.I. Bill, returned to college to earn his degree and teaching certificate. This is where their first two children: Robert and Nancy were born.

Theirs was a uniquely happy marriage for May loved her husband and followed him wherever they decided to go. Bob was her best friend. Upon graduation, they relocated to Cornish, Maine where together, they began a lifetime of teaching and loving young people. Bob taught Health, Science and Physical Education while May remained at home. Here their third and fourth children: James and Thomas were born.

With a growing family, they decided to take a teaching and coaching position in a town on Long Island, New York; a little town called Sayville. It was here they spent the major years of their working lives building values into the young people they taught, loved and entertained in their home. Their family was completed here with two more children born: Daniel and Kenneth respectively.

May's life had its share of joys and sorrows. Early in her life she decided she had two basic life goals: her children would be born in the greatest country on earth and they would have the finest father on earth. She accomplished those goals. To May, her husband and her children were her top priority and the most important people in her life. She was a devoted wife deeply in love with Bob Hazen became his devoted partner as they went throughout life together.

Always a gracious, unselfish, loving mother, she had ended her studies as a nurse to marry Bob Hazen and build a life with him. From the Greatest Generation, May and Bob embraced those values and lived peaceful, honorable, good and decent lives of service and love to one another and to everyone with whom they came in contact.

Bob and May would return each summer to Hiram, Maine where together they built a family camp on a little pond.  It was their intent that “Camp” would be a place for their children and their children to return to each summer. Memories are continuing to be made today and will continue to be made for generations to come at this very special “CAMP” as it remains in the family today.  May was forever grateful for being able to create and start such a wonderful family escape.

The Hallmark of May Hazen's life was her heart of love and grace and her enormous spirit of generosity. It has been said that "the arm that rocks the cradle, rules the world." And in May's case, this was the truth! She invested her days in family, unconditionally loving her children and teaching them by word and deed to do the same.

The couple suffered the worst of all losses in 1980, when their son Daniel died. Together they grieved, Bob retired, and they moved to Lyndonville, Vermont to build their retirement home. May became active in the community and began selling Mary Kay products. They made many friends and lived quietly and happily until he predeceased her On November 8, 2013. And May, now without the love of her life, powered on, continuing to do all she could to express her love to their five living children, their spouses and her and Bob's eleven grandchildren and nineteen great grandchildren. One of her most loved and often used phrases was "Keep on keeping on." And she always did!

May was truly one of a kind, a rare treasure. She loved with all she had and served others out of that love. But she was not just another “nice person.”  From a position of faith deep within her soul, she walked what she talked. And now her children: Bob, Nancy, Jim, Tom, and Kenny”… rise up and call her blessed. She was a Proverbs 31 woman in every particular.

On Tuesday evening, August 1, 2017, after a prolonged illness, May slipped peacefully to her eternal rest in the home she loved with her loving eldest son Bob, representing all of her children, and her close friend Kathy Norris by her side.

In lieu of flowers, donations in May’s memory can be sent to Caledonia Home Health marked for ‘Hospice’, 161 Sherman Drive, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819 or The Fold Family Ministries/Lyndon Bible Church, P.O. Box 1188, Lyndonville, VT 05851.

You may call on the family at the funeral home on 15 Main Street in Lyndonville Tuesday evening, August 8th from 6-8pm.

Her funeral service with a Celebration of her Life Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 10:00am at the Guibord Funeral Home with the Pastor Joel Battaglia officiating.  Burial will immediate follow the service at the Lyndon Center Cemetery.

Memories and condolences can be shared with the family at www.guibordfh.com.