Hazel M Cruea

Celebrating 101 Years of a Beautiful Life

Hazel Ruth Miller Cruea passed away peacefully at home in Imperial Beach, California, on May 29, 2025, at the extraordinary age of 101.

Hazel was born on July 11, 1923, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Maximilian Lane Miller and Maud Ethel Nuckels Miller. She grew up on a busy family farm—alongside four sisters and one brother—in what is now Chesapeake, Virginia. Life on the farm taught her how to work hard, grow vegetables, cook, sew, and ride horses. These early lessons shaped the woman she would become: capable, no-nonsense, and endlessly resourceful.

Hazel was exceptionally bright and graduated as valedictorian of her high school class. Afterward, she worked at a bank and sang in a trio at the USO club in Newport News, where she met the love of her life, Robert Leroy Cruea. They married on March 11, 1941, and shared 38 years together until his passing in 1976.

During World War II, Hazel served as a switchboard operator on base in Newport News while her husband served in the Navy. She followed him from station to station, eventually settling with him in Imperial Beach, California—where she would spend the rest of her long life.

Hazel was the proud mother of five children: Carol, Robert, Dana, Dixie, and Diann. Dinner was served at the same time every night, homework had to be finished before anything else, and nobody could out spell her. She was the family’s walking dictionary, She rarely sat down to watch television, but when she did, it was baseball or football—especially her beloved Padres. If she wasn’t home during a game, you could bet she had a radio with her to catch every inning.

She gave her time generously—to her children’s schools, the PTA, bake sales, and classroom activities. She was deeply involved in her daughters’ baton competitions, traveling as a chaperone and sewing every costume. Hazel could make anything, Halloween costumes, dresses with matching doll outfits, Hawaiian shirts, bridesmaid dresses—even wedding gowns. Her sewing was beautiful, and stitched with care.

When Hazel lost her vision later in life, she didn’t stop creating. She saved scraps from decades of sewing projects and had them turned into lap blankets for her great-grandchildren—a patchwork of memory, love, and tradition.

Hazel was lovingly cared for by her son, Robert Leroy Cruea Jr., whose full-time devotion allowed her to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their home. His care was a living reflection of the kind of mother she had been.

Hazel was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Leroy Cruea; her daughter Carol; her brother Maximilian Lane; and her sisters Ethelyn and Judith .

She is survived by her children Robert, Dana, Dixie, and Diann; her sisters Doris and Theda

; 12 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and 11 great-great-grandchildren.

Hazel’s legacy lives on in every child she raised, every item she stitched with love, every meal she prepared, and every tradition she passed down. She was, and will always be, the heart of her family.

Even toward the end of her life, Hazel reminded those around her to “make every day a great day—and make it a happy day.” And in remembering her, we’ll do just that.

God speed, Mom. Gram. Hazel.

We love you—and we’re grateful for every year we had with you.