Hazel Coleman Connor

The daughter of Wilbert Hamilton Connor and Ruth Norwell Connor, she was the sister of the late Wilbert Hamilton Connor Jr. and the cousin of the late Albert Edward Cutting. She is survived by her cousins Eleanor Hughes Wolfe, Elizabeth Hughes and Beverlee Duncan Smith, her second cousins Albert Edward Cutting Jr., Carol Edna Cutting, David Allen Cutting, and Brian Stephen Cutting, as well as her nieces Pamela Lee Connor and Kimberly Ann Connor.

Hazel was born in Arlington Massachusetts on February 7, 1933 and graduated from Arlington High School. She then enrolled in a rigorous five-year dual-degree Nursing program at Simmons College, where her nursing classmates Lois Shimmin Pacheco, Diane Hanna, Pat Schaeffer Romelfanger, Lorraine Fraser and Eileen Ames Cutting became her lifelong friends, with Hazel introducing Eileen to Eileen’s late husband Albert.

Graduating from Simmons College in 1955, with both a Baccalaureate of Science and a Diploma in Nursing, and licensed as a Registered Nurse, Hazel was employed by the Boston Visiting Nurse Association, making house calls throughout the South End of Boston. After traveling to California with her friends from college, Hazel found employment as a school nurse, first in California, and then in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Realizing that teaching was her true calling, after going back to college and obtaining her teacher’s certificate, Hazel became a dearly loved elementary school teacher in Greenwich, where she taught for many years. “Miss Connor” was particularly loved by her students because she always insisted that they be allowed to go outdoors for recess, going outdoors herself to organize their games and physical activities.

Upon her retirement, Hazel moved into the home in Harwichport which had been built by her father. She loved her gardens, raised beautiful flowers and was adored by her pet cats. She will be sorely missed by her nursing classmates, her family, and the many friends whom she made over the years. Services and interment will be private at her request.