Hazel Ervin Turner was born on September 27, 1923, in Charlotte, NC to Frances Edneta Ervin. She was an only child and spent her first five years in Darlington, SC before moving to Washington, DC with her mother. She attended and graduated from the original Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Washington, DC and attended Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC for a few years. There at Claflin University, she met her future husband of 75 years, Alvin Henry Turner.
As there was a male federal labor shortage due to World War II efforts, Hazel was recruited while at Claflin University to take the Civil Service Exam for federal government employment. She successfully passed that exam and before the start of employment, Alvin made his way to Washington, DC while in the U.S. Army to court Hazel. It worked and they were married on December 4, 1943. After marriage, Hazel began working at the Census Bureau in 1946. She worked in the Washington, DC and Suitland, Maryland offices until she retired in 1980. In her leisure, Hazel loved to host parties and play Tripoley at her home and take trips to New York with her friends. She was an extremely loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Survived to cherish her memory are her daughters, Janise Mead and Alva Abdussalaam; five grandchildren, Shelli Mead, Katrina Abdussalaam, Mikal Abdussalaam, Brette Mead and Nuri Abdussalaam; five great-grandchildren, Darin Mead, Mikal Abdussalaam, John Riley IV, Makhi Abdussalaam, Dylan Riley and many nieces and nephews.
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