HAZEL (BENNETT) FALCONER GODDARD

 

     Hazel (Bennett) Falconer Goddard was born in Thornton, Limestone County, Texas - one of the nine children of Benjamin and Maud (Henderson) Bennett. She attended Marlin Public Schools, and after graduating from high school, she worked in the Shaw Clinic and Hospital.

     She enrolled in the first course ever offered for hospital administrators at the University of Chicago, earned a Bachelor's degree from Cornell School of Nursing in New York City; received a scholarship to Vanderbilt University for study in public health nursing; earned a master's degree from Teacher's College of Columbia University, and completed a graduate course in school health at Columbia. As a public health nurse, she was employed by the New York Henry Street Nursing Service, and later by the Texas Health Department in Brazoria County. She served during World War II for three years with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in the South Pacific; and for many years has been an active reserve nurse in the U.S. Public Health Service.

     After World War II, Hazel returned to New York City where, in 1946, she was married to Bolivar Lang Falconer, M.D., of Marlin, Texas. He died in 1953 in a New York Hospital, and Mrs. Falconer returned to Marlin, where she focused her philanthropic interests, time, and talents in church, civic, and charity work.

     Hazel (Bennett) Falconer, with her sisters-in-law Mrs. Mary Falconer Winkler, Mrs. Nettie Falconer Allen, and Miss Roberta Falconer, gave property for a recreational center which bears the family name, Falconer Community Center, in Marlin. Later, she bought the colonial style of Dr. Walter Hanz and Mrs. Nettie (Falconer) Allen, and gave it to the City of Marlin. The "Allen House" is a well-known civic landmark in Marlin, and is kept in beautiful repair.

     In 1968, Mrs. Falconer was married second to Episcopal Bishop Frederick Percy Goddard, whose first wife died in 1965. Hazel was very active in St. John's Episcopal Church in Marlin, and had been friends with the Goddards - a former rector of St. John's - for many, many years. The Episcopal Bishop's Office was in Tyler, but was later relocated in Marlin. Mrs. Goddard served on the Board of the Episcopal Church- women of the Texas Diocese; was president of St. John's Churchwomen; president of the Marlin Public Library; and of the Marlin Independent School Board. She has served on the Falls County Historical Commission, and was one of the Founders of Falls County Historical Museum.

     Bishop Goddard died in June 1983, and Mrs. Goddard continues to reside in their in Marlin. She is a member of the Waco Symphony Women's Council; the Symphony Association board of directors, the Central Texas Area Museum board at Salado, and served on the advisory committee to the Heart of Texas Council of Governments in Waco. She was vice chairman of the Marlin Housing Authority board; a member of the board of United Charities, and Marlin Civic Center, and the representative of Samaritan House in Marlin. For a number of years, she has sponsored a Bluebonnet Safari for senior citizens. She belongs to the Women's Study Club, Community Garden Club, Delt Kappa Gamma Society, and order of Eastern Star.          

     Mrs. Goddard is listed in the publication, "Outstanding Civic Leaders of America"; was named Woman of the Year by the Marlin Chamber of Commerce in 1976; and Betta Sigma Phi chapters of Alpha Omicron Omicron and Alpha Kappa Sigma named her Woman of the Year for 1976.

     Perhaps the best words to sum up the Marlin people's love and appreciation of Hazel (Bennett) Falconer Goddard were those said at a Marlin banquet by then Marlin Democrat publisher, J. C. Chatmas, Jr.: "Without a doubt, the life of every citizen in our community has been touched by 'Miss Hazel's' good deeds." She has been honored by the Falls County Historical Commission by naming a room in the Falls County Historical Museum, "The Hazel (Bennett) Falconer Goddard Room"

 

 

Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Commission, page 195 column 2 and page 196 column 1.  
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.