Hazel E. McGuire

is honored with a Brick from Ernee Lou McGuire.

In honor of my heroine, Hazel E, McGuire, my mother: Her love, devotion, and interest in education and music was the guiding light to my pursuing a college degree in music education.

Hazel was born on September 1,1915 of an immigrant father and first generation mother. Her mother died when she was one and a half years old, and her maternal grandmother raised her. She always had a love of music and her dream was to learn to play the organ/piano. That dream wasn't realized, but her love of music was passed on to her two daughters. Mother believed that education was the key to my being whatever I wanted to be. Hazel E. McGuire loved her career of raising and teaching her children.

While attending the University of Wichita (1957-1963), my mother was my mentor. When I was taking voice lessons and had to sing a song in German, Mother helped me pronounce the German words because she had taken four languages in high school. Mother helped me work through my spiritual questioning in my sophomore year of college. Hazel E. McGuire was also a wonderful letter writer, and had a grasp of language and sentence structure (not my strong area). I had her critique many of my writing papers while pursuing my Bachelor's degree.

HAZEL E. MCGUIRE My inspiration, my mentor, my mother.

Submitted by Ernee Lou McGuire, daughter of Hazel E. McGuire

July 28, 1998