Honors for Hazell

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Mary Jane Hazell wants everyone to get something straight about her. The recent award she received from the Philadelphia Eagles has absolutely nothing to do with her age. In fact, Hazell still has the better part of a year to go before she reaches her 75th birthday, although to a lot of folks in Somerton it probably seems like she’s been around forever.
So when the Eagles and Dunkin’ Donuts recently compiled a list of their 75 Greatest Living Philadelphians to coincide with the team’s 75th anniversary season, Hazell made the cut on the strength of her lifetime of service to her community.
During an Oct. 11 ceremony at Lincoln Financial Field, the longtime Somerton Civic Association president took her place among an all-star lineup that included District Attorney Lynne Abraham, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski, radio talk show host Mary Mason and Project HOME co-founder Sister Mary Scullion, to name a few.
Hazell didn’t even know she was in the running for the award when her name appeared on the list released by the team and the doughnut-shop chain in late September. She still isn’t sure who nominated her, but whoever did had a lot of nice things to say about her. In all there were about 200 nominations.
"They said how I was involved in Somerton Youth (Organization) starting the girls softball program and how I was (home and school) president at Comly, Baldi and Washington; all of the old stuff," Hazell said, recounting the biographical information read at the awards ceremony.
"Then they said how active I am in Somerton (Civic). I think that’s what clinched it."
Hazell also is a member of the advisory board for MaST Charter High School and a Democratic committeewoman in the 58th Ward.
Though Hazell’s outspokenness has rubbed many foes the wrong way over the years, her unwavering commitment to important local causes has set an example for community leaders throughout the Northeast and beyond.
Hazell and her late husband, Richard, moved to Somerton in 1965. Hazell joined the SCA in 1966 to fight against the planned Fraternal Order of Police senior apartment building on Byberry Road.
"When I first got involved, Somerton Civic was four dollars and seventeen cents in the red," Hazell said. "We had to go out and raise money to fight it. We had maybe a dozen women with coffee cans going door to door. At that time, I made a lot of enemies because some of the cops’ wives said I was against cops because it was the FOP. But I wasn’t, I was a cop’s kid."
Hazell and her colleagues lost that battle as the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the project. Ironically, the civic leader now concedes that the building has been a great asset to the neighborhood despite the high traffic volume on Byberry Road.
After the FOP case, Hazell stayed on with the civic group. While raising her two daughters and maintaining a household, she became SCA zoning chairwoman, then the organization’s president.
Hazell has held the latter position for about 20 years. She’d give up the office if a serious candidate stepped forward, but that has yet to happen, she explained.
"Every other year, we have elections and nobody puts their name in," Hazell said. "I would (step aside) in a heartbeat. I’d like to see the young people get more involved."
Under her leadership, the SCA has played a key role in many major local projects, such as the ongoing redevelopment of the former Philadelphia State Hospital, commonly known as Byberry, into a 400-home subdivision and corporate office park.
The SCA also has a major stake in the proposed extension of Woodhaven Road west from its current terminus at Evans Street. Hazell has long argued on behalf of the SCA that there needs to be another east-west route through the area to relieve traffic from Byberry Road.
Though opponents of the extension have stymied progress on the project in recent years, Hazell remains confident that a road will be built as long as area residents remain unified behind it.
The same could be said of any community issue, she believes.
"It’s like a pencil," Hazell explained. "You try to break one and it’s very easy to break. But if you get a stack of pencils together, you can’t break them." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com