Hazel M. Gregory

She was born on November 17, 1924, in Beckley, West Virginia to Everett and Ida Mae Wagner, the fourth of eight children. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1941 and attended Beckley College.

Hazel was an independent and headstrong soul her entire life. A tomboy in her youth, she wore overalls and was nicknamed “Tater”. After she married, she would join the men with their big shotguns on squirrel hunting trips, and later brag about out-shooting them with her little .22 rifle. You always knew where she stood on a subject, and she leaves behind a rich legacy of “Momma-isms” that are now part of her family’s vocabulary.

She married Albert G. Gregory, Jr., in 1945 after he returned from service in France during World War II. They settled in Beckley but, not being fond of its mountain winters, they moved to Miami, Florida in 1955 to raise their family. They had three children: Mary Ellen, Albert III and Mandy. She worked at Golden Glades Medical Center in Opa-Locka for 30 years, retiring as their office manager and medical secretary.

After Albert died in 1971, Hazel began pursuing another of her life’s loves, travel, a love she instilled in her children’s lives as well. Inspired by the book, Complete Book of Marvels by adventurer Richard Halliburton, she eventually visited many of the faraway places she had dreamed of seeing while growing up in West Virginia. She also loved travelling in the United States, crossing the country in her favorite way: on a Greyhound bus in the first seat behind the driver. By the time her travelling days were over, she had visited every continent except Australia and Antarctica and every state except Alaska.

She lived frugally in her personal life, a result of her upbringing in a large family in Appalachia, but was extraordinarily generous with her family and neighbors. In addition to travel, her other favorite interests included gardening, quilting, sunsets, beachcombing, crosswords, old cemeteries and reading. She was especially fond of listening to country music sung by her favorite artists (“her boys”, as she called them), like Alan Jackson, Randy Travis and others.

She was preceded in death by her husband Albert G. Gregory, Jr., her father and mother, Everett and Ida Mae Wagner, and her seven brothers and sisters: Clarence, Thelma, Helen, Evelyn, Herbert, Everett Jr. and Kenneth. She is survived by her three loving and adoring children: Mary Ellen Brand; Albert G. Gregory, III (Beth) and Mandy Elizabeth Mims (Tom), and by her three grandchildren: Michael Brand (Erica), Hendersonville, Tennessee; Meredith Brand, Cairo, Egypt; and Adam Gregory (Bonnie), Tallahassee, Florida.