HAZEL MARIE DORAN HENKEL

Hazel Doran, the 3rd child, 1st daughter, of David Daniel and Sarah Jane Pickard Doran, was born on December 19, 1898 in Houtzdale, Clearfield County, PA. She was baptized January 3, 1899 and her godparents were Con Allen and Rose Rogers. In the 1915? Doran family picture, Hazel is fourth from the left; in the 1917? Doran family photograph she is behind her mother, to the left.

Hazel's father, David Daniel Doran, was a coal miner in Houtzdale. Someone, seeing the Doran's growing family, took David aside and convinced him to find a safer job. Thus Hazel's birth may have precipitated the family's move to Ford City, PA where the 1900 census lists David as a bookkeeper. Hazel probably received all her schooling in DuBois, where the family relocated (c.1907-1916). In the Mentor 1914, the literary magazine of St.Catherine's High School, DuBois, Hazel's favorite saying is: "How's your heart?"

The family's next move was to Pittsburgh. According to the Pgh. 1918 City Directory, Hazel Doran lived with her family at 224 Chalfont. Hazel wrote to her brother, Gerald, in France, Oct. 10, 1918: "I have a new position, working for the Unity Sanitary Corporation, 54 Terminal Way, S.S. City. I'm away out beside the river and it is always as dirty as the dickens down here but I like the work real well. Still doing stenographic work, and getting $80.00 a month for it. I think that is pretty good don't you? They sell disenfectants and there is an epidemic of Influenza in the country, and we are doing a pretty good business now. We had a barrel of it in the office ready to be shipped out and it started to leak, and the smell would knock you over. We didn't pay any attention to it at first because the odor is here all the time, but it kept getting stronger and stronger so we thought we would take a look, and it was all over the place. Going home in the street car, everybody was talking about the disenfectant in the car, and when I got home I discovered it was on my clothes and I have had them airing ever since."

The next year, 1919, Hazel is listed as chief clerk for J. P. Dolan of the Gov. War Savings Dept. Then in 1920, according to the census records, Hazel is employed as an office bookkeeper, living at 5518 Howe St., Shadyside, the Doran's first owned home.

It was in Pittsburgh that Hazel fell in love with Sylvester John Henkel, known as Cy. One summer Hazel's brother, Gerald, and Cy were out on the Allegheny River when they bumped into a hornet's nest -- the two usually slow moving men really lit out of there quickly, Bill Doran remembered. Hazel and Cy were married June 9, 1920 (at St. Paul's Cathedral?); they had two sons: S. J. Jr. in 1921 [known first as Junior, then as Hank] and Robert J. in 1924. Both boys attended St. Paul's Cathedral School; Hank attended Peabody High School, graduating in 1939. Hank later obtained a master's degree from George Washington University in 1968. In 1927 the Henkel's were living at 442 Winton; in 1930 they were back on Howe St. with the Dorans; then in 1934 they lived at 620 Copeland in Pittsburgh.

Hazel Henkel worked for the Carson St. Bank until 1940 when the family moved south to Mt. Rainier, MD. Cy had been employed by the Pittsburgh Railway Company up until 1938; in 1940 he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. Cy was an efficient stenographer, often receiving awards for fast typing. For awhile he was a court reporter. After the move south, Hazel obtained an office job with the U.S. Navy (1940-1962?). The Henkel's made their home at 3106 Bunker Hill Road, Mt. Rainier, MD. It was a cozy house next to a sagging garage that Cy later thoroughly enjoyed demolishing with a sledgehammer. Hazel and Cy were parishioners of St. James Church, in Mt. Rainier.

Hazel was a down-to-earth, good-hearted woman, a loving wife, mother, sister, daughter. She kept in constant touch with the family still in the Pittsburgh area (Mary, Sara, Paul & Helen) and those in Baltimore (John, Bill, Ruth & Jean and her mother). Hazel & Cy always tried to be at 641 Coventry (Towson, MD) for the Halli/Doran New Year's eve celebration. Their son, Hank's family also joined in the general hilarity of music, dancing, and midnight feast.

Hazel's nephew, Dave Doran (son of John), had been living in Florida with his mom since his teenage years and had thus been out of touch with his Doran aunts, uncles & cousins. So before their marriage in 1965, Dave and his fiancee, Carol Short, went to visit Aunt Hazel in her Mt. Rainier home. Hazel, a good cook and anxious to please, had prepared not one but three desserts, including lemon meringue and coconut creme pies. Carol remembers that when Hazel was serving, she took one look at young Carol and commented "I can tell which one you want" and handed her a slice of lemon meringue, while Carol secretly hungered for the coconut creme, her most favorite dessert in the whole world.

Cy died March 29, 1965 of cirrhosis of the liver; his wife survived him by 10 years. Hazel was gradually slowed down by a series of strokes and died November 1, 1975. I remember her sister, Jean (my mom), tucking in the hospital covers to keep Hazel's feet warm. Hazel and Cy Henkel are buried at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, VA. Cy was a veteran (Sgt Major D Cavalry) in both WWI & II.

Henkel Descendants:

1) S. J. Henkel, Jr. (Hank) married Lorraine Roesch in Baltimore, MD February 15, 1943. They have two sons: Wayne John, who also lives in Baltimore and Dennis Richard, who with his wife Sally Clatterbuck (m.1968) recently moved to Chapman, Kansas to be near their grandchildren. Michael Todd Henkel, Dennis & Sally's only child, married Cristal Avon Prichard in 1992. They have two sons: Christopher Ryan & Dustin Dennis.

2) Robert Joseph Henkel married Florence Cheriff in 1945. They had two sons: Gary Lee & David Bruce. The marriage ended in divorce; Bobby later married Virginia Garrity and moved down to Florida. Bobby's son, Gary married Teri Lyn McRobie in 1976. Gary & his wife live in Pinellas Park, FL and have three children: Sheri Llane, Damon Lee, and Brody Lars. Bobby's younger son, David, married Margaret Chang in 1985 and had one child, Stephanie Larissa, before David's sudden death, Oct. 20, 1989. Bobby Henkel died Nov. 3, 1999 in Citra, Florida.