Hazel Emma Burgess

BURGESS- Hazel Emma Burgess, 89, passed away on January 19, 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was born on September 18, 1920, Spring Grove, Virginia, to Fay and Shirley Burgess. She and her mother moved to Saginaw, Michigan, when Hazel was 14. After graduating from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, she taught elementary school for a short time and then had an opportunity to join the United States Government as a Foreign Service Officer. During her employment, she lived and worked in Iran, Egypt, Korea, and China, and in 1968 received the Intelligence Medal of Merit from Richard Helms. Wherever she spent her days, she made a great many friends, and was a generous donor to a wide variety of social and cultural causes. Music delighted her, and she gave her support to the opera and many choral groups in Washington, D.C. As an active member of the Woman's National Democratic Club, she contributed enthusiastically to candidates and causes. In her retirement at her home in Georgetown, she began her days with the Washington Post and National Public Radio, never feeling the need for television. She possessed a sharp wit, a rich sense of humor, a spirit of adventure, and the gift of living in the moment. Those having the good fortune to have known Hazel will miss her sorely. Her family (cousins- Mary Lou Boyer, Jack and Pat Phelps, Vicky and Gus Phelps, David, Jim , John, and Thomas Ley) ask that any remembrance you may wish to make be in the form of a donation to one of the many groups she supported, (among them, UNICEF, Sierra Club, Animal Humane Association, Doctors Without Borders, Saint Bonaventure Indian Mission School). Hazel's care has been entrusted to: Daniels Family Funeral Services 7601 Wyoming Blvd, NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 (505) 821-0010