by Rocky Macy
Hazel Josephine NUTT was born on July 28th, 1902, in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri. She married Charles Eugene MACY on Christmas Eve, 1919, at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho, Missouri. Hazel passed away on October 29th, 1975, at Oak Hill Hospital in Joplin, Newton County, Missouri.
Hazel Josephine (NUTT) MACY was my paternal grandmother.
Hazel Josephine NUTT entered the public record in the US census of 1910 when she was enumerated with her family as “Hazle” J. Nutt living on Pineville Road in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri. By the time of the next census in 1920, she was the 17-year-old wife of “Charley” E. Macy and residing in Dayton Township of Newton County, Missouri. The couple had no children at the time of that census.
When the 1930 census was taken, “Charley” E. and Hazel “H.” Macy were still in Dayton Township living on what the census taker described as an “unimproved dirt road.” Charley was listed as being 29 and Hazel as twenty-seven. By that time they had two sons: Wayne (9) and Garland (5).
The 1940 census found the family still in Dayton Township with the addition of two more children. The census taker recorded the family members as Charles E. (39), Hazel (36), Wayne (19), Garland (15), Tommy Dean (9), and Betty Joan (7). That would be the extent of Hazel’s family - except for baby Verna May who died as an infant in 1929 and one other child who died at birth and was apparently not named. The 1940 census also stated that Hazel had attended elementary school through eighth grade.
Hazel was the fifth of eight children born to Thomas Franklin and Etta Orvilla (GRIFFITH) NUTT of Neosho, Missouri, and, of all of her siblings, she appears to have led the most troubled and impoverished life. Five of her siblings settled out-of-state (one in Kansas, one in Florida, and three in California), and one of the three who remained in Missouri moved to a different county. Hazel and her older sister, Ethel Blanche NUTT, stayed in Newton County, and they wound up marrying brothers - Charley “Chock” MACY and Walter “Jack” MACY. Of those two MACY brothers, Jack was ambitious and clear-headed, and Chock was not.
Hazel’s husband, according to a knowledgeable relative, was physically abusive toward her, and as the years of raising a family wore on, he became increasingly fond of alcohol. Hazel, who had siblings living in exotic places like Florida and California, undoubtedly tired early on of life on an “unimproved dirt road” in rural Newton County with an abusive husband, four children, and never enough food or suitable clothing. However, she stuck with the marriage and with Chock until the children were grown and had left home. After the kids left, she moved out of the house on several occasions, and finally left for good in the early 1960’s.
My father, in a hand-written personal history, described his mother in kind terms. He said that she was a good cook, but that there was seldom much food in the house. He said they butchered two hogs each winter and often subsisted on beans and cornbread. He also talked about times that they stayed with her parents and made it sound as though food was the primary reason for those visits. My Dad wrote about his mother going to town to ask for government commodities:
“During the Depression, early 1930’s, she (Hazel) was forced to ask for commodities, government handouts to poor people - flour, cheese, meal mush, etc - because we were in a world of hurt. Dad wouldn’t go with her to ask, (so) she had to hitch a ride and go alone.”
While Hazel lived a basically impoverished life in Missouri, she did travel out of state on at least three occasions. In 1956 my father sent her and Chock to San Diego, California, on a Greyhound bus to be with their oldest son Wayne, as he passed away from leukemia, and then in the 1960’s she made two extended visits to her sister, Ina (NUTT) JOHNSTON, in Winter Garden, Florida.
Hazel MACY was mentioned several times in the Neosho newspapers over the course of her life. The first time was two days after she and Chock were married. The December 26th issue of the “Neosho Times” carried an article about Probate Judge R. B. PARNELL and focused on the unusually large number of marriages that the judge had been performing. It mentioned that he had married seven couples on Christmas Eve and listed those couples by name. They included “Charlie E. Macy” and his bride, “Hazel Nutt” of Neosho.
On March 16th, 1933, there was a brief note on page six of the “Neosho Times” which reported that “Helen Macy spent Sunday with her aunt, Mrs. Hazel Macy.” (Helen was the daughter of Hazel’s sister, Ethel, and her husband Jack, who was Chock’s brother. Helen later became the wife of Newton County Deputy Sheriff Vince PEARMAN.)
There was a mention in the Goodman section of the “Neosho Daily News” on July 18th, 1954, that read: “Rocky and Gale (Gail) Macy, small children of Mr. and Mrs. Garland Macy, spent Sunday with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Macy, west of Neosho.” I can remember a few of those Sunday trips where Gail and I stayed with Chock and Hazel and spent the day chasing chickens and playing with the dogs. In the personal history that my Dad left behind he tells of our final Sunday visit with his parents. Dad said that he showed up in the afternoon to collect us and found Hazel gone and Chock drunk - and that Gail and I were both “scared to death.” We were never dropped off there again.
If Hazel had any “glory days” in her life, they were undoubtedly in the 1960’s as she was ridding herself of Chock and trying to establish her own identity in the world. She visited her sister, Ina, in Florida twice during the 1960’s, once for four weeks and the second time for a year. It was during the 1960’s that she began seeking the comfort of religion and becoming involved in social activities. She had a job during part of the 1960’s and was generating money for her own benefit and not that of her husband and children.
Hazel’s first trip outside of Missouri on her own was probably in early 1962 when she went to Winter Garden, Florida, to visit her sister, Ina (NUTT) JOHNSTON and her family. Although I don’t know for sure how she traveled to and from Florida, most long distance travel for ordinary people in those days was by bus. The following recap of Hazel’s first trip to Florida, ran on page three of the “Neosho Daily News” on April 6th, 1962:
“Mrs Hazel Macy has just returned from Winter Gardens (sic), Fla., where she spent four weeks visiting her sister, Mrs Ina Johnston and Mr. (Lewis) Johnston and other relatives. This was Mrs. Macy’s first trip to Florida and while there she went to many places of interest such as Cypress Gardens, Marine Land, and Lake Wales.”
My grandmother had been home from her first Florida trip for just a little over a month when she was again mentioned in the local newspaper, this time for being the hostess of a social club meeting. An article which ran on page three of the May 15th, 1963, issue of the “Neosho Daily News” read as follows:
“Mrs. Hazel Macy Hostess to Club”
“The May meeting of the Belfast Variety Club was held at the home of Mrs. Hazel Macy with Mrs. Jack Macy, Sr., as co-hostess.
“The devotional was given by Mrs. Jack Macy, Sr. Sixteen members were present.
“After the business meeting the group discussed their proposed trip to Springfield to tour the Royal Typewriter factory. This trip will be in place of a June meeting.
“Refreshments were served by the hostesses to Mesdames Clyde Buzzard, Raymond Boyd Edwin Cornell, Dewey Edmondson, D.C. Hains, Hazel Macy, Jack Macy, Sr., J.C. McGee, Effie McRoberts, Lawrence Nichols, Glenn Nichols, Willis Olson, Charles Queener, Owen Scott, Gerald Teagarden, and Flossie Wade.”
Significantly, to me at least, while most of the women at that club meeting were identified through the first names of their husbands, Hazel was mentioned three times, and each of those times was with her own given name. From that point in her life she does not appear in print as Mrs. C.E. MACY, and was always listed as Hazel MACY.
Hazel MACY’s social calendar continued to bulge in the summer of 1963. The July 10th edition of the “Neosho Daily News” contained this article on page three regarding a reunion of the MACY family:
“Macy Reunion Held Sunday at CRC”
“The Macy family reunion was held Sunday at the CRC. A basket dinner was held at noon.
“In the afternoon pictures were taken. The business meeting was conducted by Mrs Vincent Pearman. Hazel Macy was elected as secretary-treasurer.
“Mrs. Joel Bell of Carthage gave a talk on the history of the Macys. Letters and telegrams were read from those who were unable to attend and many said they planned to be present at next year’s reunion.
“Fifty-two persons were present from Neosho, Joplin, Carthage, and Webb City.”
Hazel, who had not been born into the MACY family but had instead married into it, chose to be active with the reunion group nevertheless. At one point I saw a note stating that her daughter, Betty (MACY) LANKFORD, had been elected President of the reunion group that day, but I am unable to locate that reference now. In Betty TUGGLE BELL’s 1998 book entitled “Macy Family” there is a nice full-page photo of the fifty-two individuals who attended the 1963 MACY reunion, and Hazel and Betty are pictured at the very center of the group. (Betty TUGGLE BELL was Mrs. Joel Bell of Carthage in the article about the reunion.)
Sometime in the spring of 1964 Hazel again traveled to Florida to see her sister, and that trip she stayed a year, literally long enough to wear out her welcome. Hazel suffered some sort of health crisis shortly after arriving, and a subsequent hospital stay left her with a bill to pay. She referenced that bill in a letter home and said she was making $30 payments on it each month. She had a job as a saleslady at the Mode-O-Day clothing store which was part of a national chain at that time.
Somehow I ended up with copies of two letters that Hazel wrote during her year in Florida - probably given to me by Helen (MACY) PEARMAN, though I honestly do not remember. One was to her sister, Ethel (Helen PEARMAN's mother), and the other was to her nephew, Bobby, the son of her younger brother Robert Eugene NUTT of Baldwin Park, California. Those two letters give some insight into the person my grandmother was. She had very nice handwriting, and those eight years of schooling paid off because there were almost no spelling errors. There was one unfortunate reference to the lady who did ironing for Hazel’s niece, Ina Mae, as a “colored girl,” but I left that in because that was common parlance for the times: black individuals were often referred to as “colored,” and adult black males and females were commonly put down with the diminutives of “boy” and “girl.” It was ugly, but that’s the way it was.
Those letters follow in their entirety. In the first, the letter to her sister Ethel back in Missouri, Hazel talks of Ina, the sister with whom she was staying in Florida, as well as Ina’s daughter, Ina Mae (Hazel’s niece) and Ina’s son, Carlton (Hazel’s nephew).
Winter Garden, Fla.,
Oct. 18, 1964
Dear Ethel,
I am over at Ina Mae’s. I stay with her of a night while her husband is away preaching. I am staying all day today and will stay all night tonight. Ina is over at Carlton’s. His wife had an operation. Ina Mae went over yesterday & spent the day. Ina went today & will stay until tomorrow afternoon.
Ina & I went to prayer meeting yesterday morning. I requested Prayer for you. I testified yesterday morning at prayer meeting. I am now a member of the Church of God. I feel like it is the right church. I can’t hardly wait to get back to church. I didn’t testify for the Lord. I told what he had did for me. I used to think the Church of God people testified for the Lord & we used to say “How could they testify for someone they have never seen?” But they just tell what the Lord has done for them. I have been happier since I became a child of God than I have ever been before. He says he will never leave us or forsake us. I feel he is with me wherever I go & am not afraid.
I pray for you almost constantly & I feel the Lord is going to heal you altho it may take a little while. Confess all your sins to God, altho he already knows what you have done, tell him, name each thing over to him. I did & I told him I had stood all I could stand & that I wanted him to heal me. Sometimes things happen to us to bring us closer to the Lord. I know my sick spell brought me closer to the Lord.
Is anyone staying with you now? I do hope you have someone.
I expect to come back probably next Mar. Be ready to go with me to club meetings. I go everywhere now and have been since I came out of the hospital.
Ina Mae has a colored girl ironing for her today. She sure had a big ironing. We had baked hen, dressing, baked potatoes, spinach, combination salad, & cornbread for dinner. I got the dinner. I still know how to cook.
Ina Mae is taking her oldest daughter, Gail, to have her hair cut at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. We will go pick her up at school. I will go over to Ina’s & shower & shampoo my hair, then we are going to prayer meeting tonight in Orlando, Ina Mae’s family and I. Bob is preaching at Fort Lotta Dale, Florida. Ina Mae & the children are going to Tampa to spend Thanksgiving & the rest of the weekend with Bob as he will be in Tampa, Florida then. He will preach in Tampa two weeks, then Dec. 6th he is going to start a two weeks’ meeting in Winter Garden. The church is just two blocks from Ina.
I used to wonder why Ina went to the Church of God. I don’t wonder at that any more.
I have been doing some sewing, making a dress and a couple of house coats. I have three more dresses to make. One is Dacron (dark blue), then the other two are material I had back home. I bought a ready made dress not long ago.
Are you still having 75 degree weather? Here the weather is in the 80’s & about 67 or 70 at night. Real nice.
I don’t get much news from back there, altho I do hear from several.
Ina Mae’s boy Buddy and I had planned to go fishing this afternoon in the lake by their house, but he has to go to Boy Scouts & I have to shampoo my hair so I guess we will have to put it off. Ina Mae has to take Gail over to Winter Garden to get her hair cut so I thought I would just shampoo my hair & shower over at Ina’s. I have a key to her house.
I will work at Mode-O-Day tomorrow afternoon. I am going to work there during Christmas holidays. My! I don’t have much money now as I pay $30 every month on my hospital bill. I had to give up my other help when I came out here. They kept me in a stew all the time. When it rained it poured. Everything happened to me at once.
Well, I am going to say hurry and get well. We are still praying for you. I hope you are much, much better.
Love as Ever,
Hazel
Winter Garden, Fla.
Tuesday Morning
Dear Bobby,
Well, it will soon be Thanksgiving. I hope you have a nice dinner & I’m sure you will.
I guess the children will all be home. Won’t that be nice? All of Ina and Lewis’s children will be here for Thanksgiving except Ina Mae’s family. Her husband is preaching in Tampa, Florida so she & the children are going down there after school Wednesday & will be back Sunday afternoon. Tampa, Florida is a hundred miles from here.
I am going to work at Mode-O-Day. You didn’t know your Aunt Hazel was a saleslady, did you? I just love to work down there.
Your Aunt Ina is washing today. I did mine yesterday.
I heard you had some cold weather back there. We had one cool day & night, that is the Florida people did, but Aunt Hazel wasn’t cold. They get colder than I do because their blood is thin.
Well, Bobby, after Thanksgiving Christmas will be here soon. I hope you, your Mother and Daddy are much, much better.
Love your
Aunt Hazel
I was in high school during the year that my grandmother spent in Florida, and while I was still not functioning as a family adult, I was aware of a couple of dramas that were playing out in relation to that extended visit to the Sunshine state.
First, sometime during the winter of 1963-64 one of my mother’s SREAVES’ relatives spotted Hazel’s daughter, Betty MACY LANKFORD, in Seneca and told my mother that Betty appeared to be pregnant. Betty and Cecil had two sons who would have been about ten and thirteen at that time, and most people assumed they were finished having children - and certainly Betty’s own mother Hazel, did not have a clue that her daughter was pregnant and would give birth to a little girl in March of 1965, or she would have rushed back to Missouri and probably tried to take charge of things.
My mother was consumed with curiosity, and the next weekend when our family stopped by Chock’s to check on him, she confronted him and my Uncle Tommy about the rumor of Betty being pregnant. If they knew anything, neither would tell her, so Mom got on the phone at Chock’s house and called Betty. After several minutes of chitchat Aunt Betty finally caved and said, “Yes, Florine, I am pregnant.”
And still no one told Hazel.
After the baby’s birth Betty telephoned her mother in Florida and told her that she and Cecil had a baby girl. Hazel, when she got over her shock, stammered out a reply that she had not even known they were trying to adopt, and Betty told her proudly: “We didn’t adopt her, Mama. She’s ours!”
The second drama came about several weeks after that when one of the relatives in Florida telephoned one of the relatives in Missouri and told them that it was time for their mother to go home - and implored the Missouri Macy’s to encourage her to return. I just know the bones of that drama, but have no idea who the actual players were.
On June 9th, 1965, the following brief notice ran on page three of the “Neosho Daily News:"
“Hazel Macy has returned to Neosho after spending a year in Orlando, Fla., with her sister, Mrs. Lewis Johnston, Mr. Johnston, and other relatives.”
My parents ran a cabin court on Elk River near Noel, Missouri from 1958 to 1964. I can remember my grandmother visiting us there on one occasion - though I am sure that she stayed several nights in our various homes over the years. Apparently Hazel wanted to get away from Neosho for a few days, and my parents, who worked seven-days-a-week at the tourist court during the summers, were too busy to go and pick her up. Hazel, not giving up, talked a Neosho cab driver into taking her to our place north of Noel - a trip of twenty miles or so. It seems like she paid him either five or ten dollars for the trip. After a few days of being underfoot as we all rushed around taking care of the tourists, I’m sure she had no trouble at all getting one of my parents to drive her home.
I remember everyone being nice to Hazel when she came to visit, but I also remember my mother complaining that Hazel would “snoop” through drawers, closets, and the medicine cabinets while she was there.
Hazel came with my parents to my high school graduation in May of 1966. They all sat on the left side of the front row smiling proudly as I gave the valedictory address, which my father referred to in his handwritten personal history as “the best speech” that he ever heard.
The last time that I saw my grandmother, Hazel MACY, was at a nursing home where she was staying in Joplin shortly before her death on October 29th, 1975. My Dad and I took my two-year-old son, Nick, to meet her. We posed for a group snapshot with Hazel outside of the facility. A couple of weeks later I was a pallbearer at her funeral.
Hazel’s obituary ran in the “Neosho Daily News’ on October 30th, 1975:
“Hazel J. Macy”
“Hazel J. Macy, 73, Neosho, died at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at Oak Hill Hospital, Joplin, after an illness of two and one half years.
“Mrs. Macy was born July 28, 1902, in Neosho and lived here all of her life.
“Surviving are one daughter, Mrs. Betty Lankford, Seneca, and two sons, Tommy, Rt. 3, and Garland, Noel. Two brothers, Claude Nutt, Wichita, Kans., and Robert Nutt, Baldwin Park, Calif.. Two sisters, Mrs. Ina Johnston, Winter Garden, Florida, and Mrs. Mabel Sour, Joplin. Eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Clark Chapel of Memories and burial will be in the New Salem Cemetery.
“Friends may call at the funeral home until service time at which time the casket will be closed and remain closed.”
My Dad summed up his mother’s life this way: “I would like to say that she never really had a chance for a good life, times were too hard.”
And the times were hard. Hazel lived through the “Great War” of 1918-1919, married a poor and abusive provider, and gave birth to six children, only four of whom survived to adulthood. She raised those kids during the Great Depression, and then stood by as her two oldest sons shipped overseas to fight in the Second World War. In her “spare” time she cleaned houses for other people and eventually worked at several stores in the Neosho area during her later years. She even suffered through the agony of her oldest child preceding her in death. By the time she finally laid down her burdens in 1975 Hazel truly had "stood all that she could stand" and was more than ready to be at rest - and at peace.
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