Hazel M. Smith

Hazel Marguerite Smith

Life in Retrospect

Hazel Marguerite Smith was born on September 11, 1925, in Portsmouth, VA. She was the ninth child of the late Frank L. and Lula Boone Smith.

Hazel attended school in the Portsmouth, VA school district where she attended and graduated from I.C. Norcom High School in June 1942, where she was the class valedictorian. Four years later she received her college degree, with high honors, from the then Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), following which she attended The Atlanta University School of Social Work in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a Master of Social Work Degree in June 1948.

On September 8, 1951, Hazel married Albert F. Smith, III of Englewood, NJ from where every summer they traveled to many destinations to experience life together.

For thirteen years Hazel was employed by Family Counseling Services of Paterson and Vicinity in Paterson, NJ, first as a caseworker and later as an agency supervisor. Afterward, she was employed by the Fairlawn New Jersey Board of Education as a social worker at the high school level. She remained there for thirty-one years and retired in June 1992.

Volunteerism, shopping, traveling, and enjoying family and friends in her home were her passions.

Hazel was predeceased by her husband of fifty-one years and by her seven brothers and two sisters.

Left to remember her are many nieces, nephews, grand and great-grandnieces, and nephews and one brother-in-law, James E. Busch, Sr.

Hazel was a member of Galilee United Methodist Church of Englewood, NJ, where Reverend Elouise Hill-Challenger presides as the Pastor.