After fatal crash, families honor man's desire to help prisoners
After Fatal Crash, Families Honor Man's Desire to Help Prisoners
The Republic | azcentral.com
by Jim Walsh - Apr. 27, 2012 10:37 PM
Mike Hazel knew he was fortunate to be alive and wanted to thank God for sparing him by helping otherwise hopeless inmates.
He cooked up an idea to bake 120 dozen cookies for prisoners at the Eloy facility where he volunteers in a prison ministry. Earlier this month, he told his friend Neal Greff, who is also in the Bible-study program, about his idea.
"I don't know why God has given me so many extra days to live, but I appreciate it," Hazel, 56, said at the time. His "extra days" came after a grim prognosis last year when his doctors told him he had virtually no chance to survive leukemia, pulmonary embolisms, kidney and liver failure, and a stroke. The ailments landed Hazel in intensive-care units for five months.
But Hazel's time ran out the day after he and Greff spoke. On April 3, Hazel and Davis Vaughan, 23, a close family friend described as like a son to Hazel, were killed when their small plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Falcon Field Airport in northeast Mesa.
When Hazel's widow, Deborah, heard about his unfulfilled cookie dream, she knew she had to do everything possible to memorialize her husband's life by completing his mission.
"Mike was a very caring, giving person," Deborah Hazel said. "He loved to cook and to bake. It's part of me sharing his memory and honoring him."
On Friday, the Hazel, Vaughan and Greff families worked with other volunteers to make more than 1,400 chocolate-chip and oatmeal cookies for prisoners at the Red Rock Correctional Facility in Eloy. The cookies will be delivered Thursday to the prison.
The Hazel cookies were baked in the kitchens of Central Christian Church in Mesa. Other churches from various Christian denominations also will be baking cookies as part of Kairos Weekend, an event sponsored by an ecumenical Christian prison-ministry program.
Larry Vaughan, Mike Hazel's best friend and Davis Vaughan's father, said Hazel experienced a religious awakening the night before doctors put him into a medically induced coma during his treatment.
Before his illness, Mike Hazel had not been a religious person, but he regularly participated in Bible study, church services and the prison ministry during his recovery, Vaughan said.
"He truly saw every day from God as an extra gift," Vaughan said. "It was important to him that he was giving hope to someone who had no hope."
Deborah Hazel said the cookie-baking project will bring back fond memories of her husband. Mike Hazel was the chef at their home and she was his helper.
Hazel, a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Coast Guard who had a second career as an engineer, would cook Deborah dinner every night and make her a special chocolate cake every year for her birthday.
"We did everything together," Deborah Hazel said. "We were best friends."
It was fitting that Mike and Deborah decided together to take up flying. They bought a single-engine plane, a Rans S-12, in May 2010, but their plans got sidetracked by Hazel's illness.
But Davis Vaughan, a certified pilot who had graduated in December from Arizona State University with an aeronautics degree, would take Hazel flying as a relief from chemotherapy after his release from the hospital.
Deborah said the prison ministry and going flying with Vaughan were her husband's two passions in life as he continued his recovery.
Deborah finds solace in knowing that her husband died doing something he loved.
"He lived every day like it was his last," she said. "I knew he was at peace. If he was going to die, this is the way he wanted to go. I'm at peace with it; so is he."
He cooked up an idea to bake 120 dozen cookies for prisoners at the Eloy facility where he volunteers in a prison ministry. Earlier this month, he told his friend Neal Greff, who is also in the Bible-study program, about his idea.
"I don't know why God has given me so many extra days to live, but I appreciate it," Hazel, 56, said at the time. His "extra days" came after a grim prognosis last year when his doctors told him he had virtually no chance to survive leukemia, pulmonary embolisms, kidney and liver failure, and a stroke. The ailments landed Hazel in intensive-care units for five months.
But Hazel's time ran out the day after he and Greff spoke. On April 3, Hazel and Davis Vaughan, 23, a close family friend described as like a son to Hazel, were killed when their small plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Falcon Field Airport in northeast Mesa.
When Hazel's widow, Deborah, heard about his unfulfilled cookie dream, she knew she had to do everything possible to memorialize her husband's life by completing his mission.
"Mike was a very caring, giving person," Deborah Hazel said. "He loved to cook and to bake. It's part of me sharing his memory and honoring him."
On Friday, the Hazel, Vaughan and Greff families worked with other volunteers to make more than 1,400 chocolate-chip and oatmeal cookies for prisoners at the Red Rock Correctional Facility in Eloy. The cookies will be delivered Thursday to the prison.
The Hazel cookies were baked in the kitchens of Central Christian Church in Mesa. Other churches from various Christian denominations also will be baking cookies as part of Kairos Weekend, an event sponsored by an ecumenical Christian prison-ministry program.
Larry Vaughan, Mike Hazel's best friend and Davis Vaughan's father, said Hazel experienced a religious awakening the night before doctors put him into a medically induced coma during his treatment.
Before his illness, Mike Hazel had not been a religious person, but he regularly participated in Bible study, church services and the prison ministry during his recovery, Vaughan said.
"He truly saw every day from God as an extra gift," Vaughan said. "It was important to him that he was giving hope to someone who had no hope."
Deborah Hazel said the cookie-baking project will bring back fond memories of her husband. Mike Hazel was the chef at their home and she was his helper.
Hazel, a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Coast Guard who had a second career as an engineer, would cook Deborah dinner every night and make her a special chocolate cake every year for her birthday.
"We did everything together," Deborah Hazel said. "We were best friends."
It was fitting that Mike and Deborah decided together to take up flying. They bought a single-engine plane, a Rans S-12, in May 2010, but their plans got sidetracked by Hazel's illness.
But Davis Vaughan, a certified pilot who had graduated in December from Arizona State University with an aeronautics degree, would take Hazel flying as a relief from chemotherapy after his release from the hospital.
Deborah said the prison ministry and going flying with Vaughan were her husband's two passions in life as he continued his recovery.
Deborah finds solace in knowing that her husband died doing something he loved.
"He lived every day like it was his last," she said. "I knew he was at peace. If he was going to die, this is the way he wanted to go. I'm at peace with it; so is he."
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