Obituary of Gladys Madeline Hazard

Gladys "Madeline" Hazard Sidney, NY Gladys "Madeline" Hazard passed away peacefully at the Chenango Memorial Residential Health Care Facility in Norwich on Friday, September 16, 2011, 9 days after her 102nd birthday. She lived her early years in Bainbridge and then 90 plus years in Sidney. She started working as a teenager in the Sidney Silk Mill sewing gloves, and quit high school at age 16 to work full time to help support the family. She married George "Bert" Hazard on December 24, 1926. Together they endured World War II and the Great Depression with a big backyard garden and homemade beer and wine. During this time she worked at Scintilla (now Bendix) winding coils for airplane radios while her husband worked for the electric company repairing and maintaining the electric lines. After World War II they bought the Community Lounge & Restaurant and had two daughters. She loved children and being a mom, and strived to provide the best childhood for her children that she could while working full time at the restaurant. She sold the restaurant when Bert died 1957, then worked various jobs and claimed to like them all, finally settling at Bendix as a sales clerk. With a regular work week she had time to take her daughters on a few summer vacations, and the family treasured those memories. She was also involved with her daughters as president of the local Girl Scouts for several years. After her daughters finished college she retired and was finally able to indulge in her love of traveling, going near and far, including Hawaii and Alaska. Her retirement contribution was to her town and her church, St. Paul's Episcopal, where she spent 25 years volunteering much of her time as clerk of the vestry, helping to manage the church property and apartments, setting up fundraiser events, carrying on business when the church didn't have a minister, and even made some repairs herself! She was parliamentarian for the Business and Professional Women's Organization, served on the Board of Directors of the local United Way, was an officer and then president of the Senior Citizens Organization, and was an active member of Eastern Star. At age 81 she was awarded First Lady of the Year from the Beta Sigma Phi sorority. She loved to be with people and was an avid card club member, driving her friends to gatherings even into her 90s, and then bought a new car at age 94! She lived in her own house and managed it for herself and her tenants until age 98 when she moved into the RHCF. She was grateful for the friends she made there and the wonderful care she was given by the dedicated and always cheerful staff. She is survived by her daughters Linda Sandri, Beaver Falls, New York and Joan Hazard (and her husband John Dabrowski), Boston, two grandchildren, Mark and Melissa Sandri, and her nephews and their wives Jim and Yvonne Moore and Michael and Helen Moore. She was dearly loved and will be greatly missed. A service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sidney on Saturday, September 24, 2100 at 3:00 p.m. with Reverend Jim Shevlin presiding. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Church at 25 River St., Sidney 13838. Funeral arrangements under the direction of C.H. Landers Funeral Chapel, 21 Main St., Sidney.