Obituaries
BACS grieves the passing of 103 yr-old “Mother HAZEL”
By Wendell Edgecombe, Bahamian American Cultural Society, Inc.
Sep 5, 2013 - 3:38:02 PM

New York, NY -  Meanwhile, we are also constrained to report the passing of Hazel Sawyer fondly known as “Mother HAZEL” at the post-centennial age of 103. “Mother Hazel” is the daughter of an historical and notable man in the adventures of the Bahamian American immigrants over 100 years ago. At a time when neither Great Britain now the United States paid much attention to blacks (they was at best socially marginalized), Charles Sawyer, Hazel Sawyer’s father, was a signatory to the formation of the original Nassau Bahamas Association. It originally took the form of a benevolent society to look after the interest of Bahamian immigrants particularly in the New York area. Spending most of her life in Harlem, New York, “Mother Hazel” moved with her grand daughter to Palm Coast, Florida where she died peacefully on August 17.

In speaking with her relatives in Upstate New York, to her grand daughter Terri Sawyer in Florida, and several friends in Harlem, I found the stories, the memories, the struggles and her assistance to the assimilation of newer immigrants as testament of a woman who lived and served, “She loved the Bahamian people. Mother Hazel loved Harlem. She served them both well to the end.”  Because of “Mother Hazel,” we are better of today; and I am more convinced of an old ancestral belief that our ancestors never leave us, May “Mother Hazel” Rest in Peace.

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