Willis Gilpin ‘Nick’ Hazard, Jr
OLD ORCHARD BEACH – On Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, Willis Gilpin ‘Nick’ Hazard, Jr., of Old Orchard Beach, a loving husband and father of four children, passed away at the age of 77.
Nick was born on July 13, 1942 in Toledo, Ohio to Elizabeth ‘Lib’ (Ericson) and Willis Gilpin ‘Bill’ Hazard and was the oldest sibling to David Creigh Hazard of Maumee, Ohio, Samuel Garth Hazard of Bardstown, Ky. and Barbara Ann Font of Cape Coral, Fla. He received his BS from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 1964 and his MA from Western Michigan University in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy in 1973.
On August 6, 1966 he married his Libbey High School sweetheart, Gloria ‘Cookie’ Pund. Nick and Cookie moved to Auburn, Maine in 1974 and raised four boys, Ted, Josiah and Sam Hazard and Neil Hasser.
Nick never said a bad word about anyone. Friends, relatives, co-workers, clients and even his sons’ teenage friends in the 80’s and 90’s would say that Nick was the kindest, sweetest man. He was genuine and paid attention to people. He wasn’t distracted by screens or phone calls. These qualities are part of what made him a fantastic Mobility and Orientation Specialist during his 30 years working for the State of Maine Department of Human Services and 10 years assisting customers from all over the world at L.L.Bean.
He loved simple things like conversation and playing cards or games around the kitchen table with family and friends. He grew up listening to the Detroit Tigers on the radio on summer nights with his mother and transferred that love of rooting for the home team to the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots when he moved to Maine. He was a man of many interests throughout his life including entomology, the Flying Scot sailboat, electric bikes and scooters. It seemed that he enjoyed the research, or the pursuit of the goal, sometimes even more than the end result. He found the world and the people around him genuinely fascinating.
Nick was preceded in death by his father Bill and mother Lib. He is survived by his wife Cookie; his sons Ted and daughter-in-law Jennifer, Neil and daughter-in-law Caitlin, Josiah and Sam; much loved grandchildren Lauren and William Hazard and Colton and Graeme Hasser; as well as his siblings David, Samuel and Barbara; and many wonderful nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews.
In the summer of 2019, all of Nick’s family, direct and extended, gathered in Old Orchard Beach for a reunion and celebration of Grandpa Nicky’ as he was often referred to with love.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 at Trinity Episcopal Church located at 15 Cleveland St., Saco, at 1 p.m.
Dennett, Craig & Pate Funeral Home and Cremation, 365 Main St., Saco, are entrusted with his services .
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Global Foundation for Peroxisomal Disorders at www.theGFPD.org or: Human Rights Campaign
at www.hrc.org
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Share your condolences, kind words and remembrances below. You must be logged into the website to comment. Subscribers, please login. Not a subscriber? Register to comment for free or subscribe to support our work.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.