Celebrating a Hundred-Year-Old Treasure

Hazel Rice Goad Guthrie- A Century Worthy of Remembering

                On May 20, Hazel Rice Goad Guthrie will celebrate her 100^th birthday. Hazel and my mother, Bernyce Smith Gates are first cousins on their mothers’ side – the Rainey family.
                Hazel has such an infectious laugh. I remember as a child when Hazel and Rosie or she and Von dropped by to visit Mother and Grandmother--just hearing Hazel laugh made me happy, too.
                When I was almost five years old, we moved into our newly built home – “the pink house.” My grandmother had strategically planned for me to have a small room of the garage as a “playhouse” room. Hazel was cleaning out her kitchen and thought of a little girl trying to furnish her new playhouse. She brought the most wonderful, gently used dishes, utensils, and pans. These weren’t play dishes but real ones like Mom had! What excitement for a little girl! My sister Angie was born just a few months after we moved into the new house so along with our friends, we had many hours of delightful play with Hazel’s old kitchenware. I’ll always remember her thoughtfulness and generosity.

Junior VBS Class at Big Bend Baptist Church in 1963
Kneeling: Larry Dooley, Kathy White and Terry Dooley
Standing: Richard Whannel, Gail Morris, Danny Grimm,
Ronnie Wilson, Mary Jane Freeman, Luther Ray Freeman,
Donald Wilson, Wayne Ray Mitchell, Jean Morris, Clay
Freeman, and Sandra Wilson. Teachers standing on porch:
Carol Evatt, Patricia Jefferson, & Gladys Smith.

                Gladys Rainey Smith, my grandmother, was Hazel’s aunt. One summer my grandmother wanted to give the kids at Vacation Bible School at the Big Bend Baptist Church in the “Junior” class – the oldest students – a Bible trivia booklet. Grandma asked paint stores for old wallpaper sample books with the intention of using the sample pages as durable covers for the Bible trivia books. Then she asked Hazel, the most gifted typist she knew, to type the original copy of the questions. Hazel worked at the Fairfax Memorial Hospital in the office so she could not work in the weekday morning VBS sessions, but she was willing to work with Grandmother to create the Bible trivia books. Grandma researched and developed the questions. Then Hazel typed them up in a booklet format. I recall Hazel stopping by periodically with the typed question pages. Grandma then used an archaic Hectograph to reprint the original pages. Grandma and Hazel were not trying to produce kids who were Bible trivia experts. They were hoping the students and their parents would be curious enough to look the questions up in the Bible, as a result learning the eternal value of reading and obeying God’s Word.

Sample of the 116-question Bible Trivia Booklet.

                These are just a couple of memories I have of Hazel. Many Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations were shared and enjoyed by our families. Below is a photograph of a get-together of the Rainey family and friends in the early 1940s, long before my time.

Photograph of a Rainey Family and Friends Celebration in the
early 1940s. Bernyce and Hazel are standing next to each other.
 
Bernyce Smith Gates had written these names on the back of
the above photograph.

                        I heard that a research study was done with centenarians trying to determine factors that led to their longevity. One trait all those study participants had in common was being able to adjust to change. All who know Hazel are most likely aware of the many challenges and losses that she has experienced. Of her four children, she has buried two of them, a task that no mother should have to do. She has tragically had grandchildren die. Yet Hazel has dealt with those extremely painful losses as well as bearing difficult burdens and situations. She sorrows, but her demeanor and countenance remains optimistic and forward-looking.

                All of us could take a page from Hazel’s life book to enrich our lives, and maybe in the process, we might add a few years, too!

Hazel Rice Goad Guthrie - seated. Her children
Rosemary Goad Dilbeck and Sam Goad standing.
Photograph by Shella Dean Dilbeck Crabtree at
Hazel's 98th Birthday Party in May of 2012.