RUMFORD — Hazel Beryl (Savage) Kennedy, 100, left us to join Linwood, the love of her life, on Thursday, Feb 15, at the Rumford Community Home, where she resided for one year.

Hazel is the daughter of Homer and Lena (Raymond) Savage. Born on Dec. 7, 1917, in Rangeley, Hazel was educated in Rangeley schools. She moved to Dixfield in the seventh grade and graduated from Dixfield High School in 1935.

She worked at the Dixfield Mill as a sorter, Maine Medical Center training as a nurse’s aide and at the Rumford Hospital as a nurse’s aide. She waitressed at Clara’s Tea Room in Rangeley, Elliotts’ Diner in Dixfield, at the big hotel in Dixfield (while living upstairs), and at Big Island Pond Private Fishing Camps in Coburn Gore near the Canadian border for many years, until her retirement in 1991.

In August 1943, she enlisted in the U.S. Army WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps). Hazel was stationed in Fort Washington, Md., and honorably discharged as morning report clerk in 1944. She was remembered for her wonderful Maine accent.

Hazel lost her only brother, Donald, who was deployed with the U.S. Air Force active duty in England as top turret gunner and died as a tail gunner over the English Channel in the fall of 1943.

She married Linwood L. Kennedy on May 3, 1946, in Farmington. They moved to Carthage, Dixfield, then settled in Mexico (Hale) in 1952, where they raised three children. She resided in Hale until 2017, where her daughter, Trudy, resided with and cared for her for seven years. She survived colon cancer in the ’70s.

She led “A Group of Girls” in Dixfield — before “Girl Scouts” began in Mexico in 1946, and was a leader for several decades. Hazel also was an integral part of “The Mexico Mothers’ Club” and the Junior Mothers Club, donating to a needy family at Christmas and also to residents at the local nursing home for residents without family members. She was also a member of the Eastern Star and a lifetime member of the Dixfield American Legion Auxiliary since 1939.

She enjoyed corresponding with her many pen pals all over the U.S. and abroad, and was very active in bowling leagues in Mexico and Rumford from 1980 until 2009, keeping scores for the leagues by hand for many, many years. “A calculator makes a lazy mind,” she would say. Hazel loved going to beano, taking bus tours around the country with her sister, Frances, and nieces, Eileen and Joyce. She said the national parks were the best. She and Frances flew to the Netherlands to visit their brother’s grave, and Hazel visited Hawaii three times. She also enjoyed camping in the back of Linwood’s truck, gardening, pickling, keeping a diary, playing cards, hosting annual Raymond family reunions and visits from her grand/great-grandchildren. She collected odd postage stamps, and each Christmas for 21 years, she received an original Christmas card designed with the stamps she had mailed to her pen pal, James Butman, from Springfield, Mass. Reading romance novels from book clubs was her passion. She would “dicker” for good children’s books at yard sales to donate to the Meroby School Library.

This week, she was chosen for the Maine Health Care Association’s “REMEMBER ME” Lifetime Achievement Award. She was one of 34 recipients to be selected throughout the state of Maine for her community service and accomplishments throughout her lifetime.

Hazel will surely be remembered for her quick wit and keen sense of humor. You never had to wonder what was on her mind.

Hazel is survived by her son, Donald, and wife, Judy, of Roxbury; son, Andrew, of Mexico; daughter, Trudy Toddish, of Mexico; grandchildren, James Breau, Keith Kennedy, Kelly Louvat, Matthew Kennedy, Michael White; and several great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Linwood, in 1987; her brother, Donald; and her sisters, Nellie Beach and Frances Carlton.

The family would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Deluca, the Rumford Community Home and to Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice for their care and compassion.

Hazel B. Kennedy

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