SHARE THE STORY - Mary Lou Hazelrigg

As part of the “Share the Story” project, biographies of the 45 individuals who were chosen as one of the “History Makers of the High Plains” by the “Amarillo Globe News” in 2000, and who are buried at Llano Cemetery, are being published individually in the Llano Messenger.

Mary L. Hazelrigg was named the 1982 Woman of the Year by the Amarillo Globe-News for her efforts to improve the lives of children in the community.

She was born in 1900 in Mount Pleasant and chopped and picked cotton as a child on her grandfather's farm. She also drove a mule at a cane mill. When her family could spare her from farm chores, she walked three miles to school.

After her marriage and the birth of her daughter, she worked as a cook so she could afford to send her daughter to a Catholic boarding school. She and her second husband, Albert Hazelrigg, moved from Dallas to Pampa at a time when the town had no paved streets. They later moved their Pampa house to an Amarillo lot at 206 N. Madison St., a location that would figure in Hazelrigg's later outreach to children.

She and her husband worked for the city as janitors and moonlighted as domestic workers for private families.

In 1965, the Hazelriggs - compelled by the thought that many of the neighborhood youngsters would have little or no Christmas celebration - began having Christmas parties in their home. The first party drew 10 or 12 children and was financed by the couple.

As word spread, hundreds of children began appearing at the Hazelrigg home each Christmas. Hazelrigg received support through the years from organizations and businesses, and her legacy continues through several local fraternities and sororities during the Christmas season.

She enlarged her party schedule to include an Easter egg hunt and a Juneteenth picnic, which has continued to be an annual event.

In the late 1960s, Hazelrigg helped open a community center in the neighborhood. She worked for a time as an unpaid volunteer in the center.

In 1972, Hazelrigg persuaded the city of Amarillo to develop a neighborhood park in a vacant lot near her home.

She worked each summer as a recreational leader in the park and often watered the trees.

She was an active member of Jenkins Chapel Baptist Church, where she worked in the Women's Mission Society and served as president of the deaconess board, spiritual adviser in the youth department and adult group leader in the Training Union.

She received the West Texas State University's Texas Distinguished Service Award for Women in 1979 and 1985, and was named Woman of the Year in missionary work by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

In 1987, she received a State Senate Resolution honoring her community service. She died in 1990.

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