Hazel Belle (Hern) Roberts

Hazel Belle Hern, born in Liberal Kansas on September 19, 1922 to father George T. Hern and mother Leora Luella Hern.

Hazel grew up on a farm in Cotton County, and graduated from Temple Senior High School on 16 May 1940.

On December 14, 1941 she wed James Aubrey Michael, again in Cotton County. He was 23 and she was 19.

On August 7, 1942, James A. Michael was a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. He was the co-pilot of a B-26 Bomber that, on that day, went down over the jungles of New Guinea. Several members of the seven man crew survived, James A. Michael did not.

Hazel some years later married Frederick James Monk. She bore him 2 children, a boy Frederick James Monk Jr. and a girl, Janice Lee Monk. That marriage ended in divorce on November 16, 1951.

Hazel worked as a secretary to provide for her two children. Remaining a single parent until she married A.Q. Roberts on August 30, 1956. He adopted her children. Hazel remained married to A.Q. until his death on December 29, 1989. She never remarried.

Hazel was a lifelong Baptist. Her unwavering devotion to our Lord and Saviour has seen her through her darkest hours. In her life span of 101 years and 6 months she has been witness to every president of the United States from Warren G. Harding to Joe Biden. She has been widowed, given birth to two children, divorced, and widowed for a second time. She endured the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Shield, Desert storm and COVID. She has gone from the Model "T" to EV's; from Ma Bell to Apple I phones; the birth of computers, to placing man on the moon.

She is survived by her son James A. Roberts and his wife Trisha; her daughter Dr. Jan Sikes, D.O. and her husband Jim Vincil, her grandchildren Sarah Roberts, Katie Martin and her husband Seth, her great grandchildren Margot and Huston Martin, and her niece Judith A. Roundy.