Jean Hazell

Jean Hazell passed away on November 19, 2025 at age 90. She was born Jean Ashley Gill in New York City on September 25, 1935, to Allen Carlyle Gill and Albertha Frances Sealy Gill, the fifth girl of six children. As a teenager, Jean moved to Greenville, New York, and graduated from Port Jervis High School. She later attended Atlantic Union College.

As a young woman, Jean sold Tupperware before following her older sisters into a healthcare-related career. She was certified in sterile processing, which she pursued in Kingston, New York and Lawrenceville, Georgia, and finally at Mount Carmel East Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, until she retired in 2005.

Jean had several hobbies, including knitting, assembling jigsaw puzzles, working word fill-in puzzles, reciting poetry, and collecting bells. She joined the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in in Harlem, New York. She went on to became a Master Guide. Supporting the church, its programs, and fellow church members became a lifelong joy. She has been involved in the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Columbus, Ohio, since joining in 1988. She served in various capacities in the church but is best known for her involvement in Youth Ministries: Adventurers, Pathfinders, Master Guides, and Bible Bowl. She supported Adventist Christian education, and during her retirement helped out in the local school whenever asked. Many members in the church were recipients of her hand-knit afghans, sweaters, hats, socks and baby sets. And then, there were the vegetarian meatballs, which she often brought to church potlucks and Sabbath dinners.  So many people loved them that she eventually started taking orders!

Jean was preceded in death by her parents; younger brother, Elton; and sisters, Ouida Gill, Eleanor Barreiro, and Eileen Gill.  She is survived by her sister, Violet Gill of Hudson, New York; daughter, Althea; nieces, Diane Barreiro Bundy and Donna Barreiro; nephews, Leland Barreiro and Carlyle Gill; grand-nieces and nephews, and close friends she made throughout her life, going back as far as grammar school. “Mama Jean” will be remembered as “a servant of God and a friend to man.”

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