The following paragraphs regarding Stacey's life history were written by C.A. Gross from conversations held with Stacey's family members and from written content provided by Stacey's family members.
Stacey Lynn Hazelton
Stacey Lynn Hazelton was born on December 20, 1982, in Wellsboro, PA, at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital to her excited and proud parents, Natalie and Bruce Hazelton. Stacey was the second of their three children. Chris, Stacey's older brother, and Amanda, her younger sister, were also born at Soldiers and Sailors. Nat says of Stacey's birth, "We got to bring her home on Christmas Eve. She was our Christmas present." To her family, Stacey was a most precious gift for life.
When Stacey
was born, she did not have much hair, nor did it grow much, really, until
she was nearly two years old.
Her parents, especially her mother, were determined to let Stacey's hair grow and grow throughout these first years without cutting it. Stacey was around three or so when, one day, Chris took the matter into his own hands. He evidently thought his sister's hair had gotten long enough and so he decided to give Stacey her very first haircut ever; the results of which can be seen in the photo to the right, with Amanda standing next to the newly shorn Stacey. Nat laughingly remembers the incident, saying, "Chris didn't do too bad a job, really. He cut Stacey's bangs really, really short, but they actually looked pretty good. And he was very proud of what he'd done."
The three children were always extremely close, and were loving and fun playmates for each other throughout their childhood. While they were still little, whenever Natalie made a cake, the two sisters were usually allowed to eat the rest of the cake batter out of the mixing bowl. Stacey would carefully draw a line down the middle of the bowl and then would sternly tell Amanda to stay on her own side!
Amanda and Stacey were as close as two sisters could possibly be and always shared a bedroom together at home. Everyone admits that Stacey would be the one to keep it clean. Stacey was both smart and kind, and would help Amanda with her homework whenever Amanda needed it. Actually, according to Amanda, "Stacey is and always will be my big sister. She was a kind person who always helped me with everything. In school, she did my homework, and when I got married, she did my wedding."
Stacey always performed well at school and was on the honor roll at Pequea Valley High School in Kinzers, PA, more than once. Her parents enthusiastically went to the banquets for the honor roll students to see their daughter shine. Stacey loved school and refused to miss any days, often receiving perfect attendance awards. She had many friends throughout her life and all would have the same to tell of Stacey: She was very sweet, loving, intelligent, and humorous. And she truly believed in people and the goodness in their hearts.
Stacey was never afraid of hard work or of getting dirty, and would often go outside to help her dad with whatever he was doing, whether it be yard work, working on one of the family vehicles, or helping him with his tire business. She also often helped her mom indoors with the cooking and cleaning. No matter what she did, she always tried to make things fun for everyone involved.
As she grew older, Stacey developed a love for reading and for drawing, spending much of her time doing either. She especially loved to draw "Winnie the Pooh" characters for her younger sister, Amanda. Stacey was a natural artist and could simply look at something or envision what she wanted to draw in her mind and then would draw it perfectly, every time. Fortunately, her family is still graced with many of these pictures.
From an early age, the two sisters loved to go shopping together, even if it was only to look. Amanda says of these shopping sprees, "There was a point in time when I wouldn't go anywhere without her. We loved hanging out and shopping together."
When the two girls moved out of the Hazelton family home and into their own apartments, their closeness continued. They would even clean each other's homes. When Amanda had her first son, Stacey was there. She loved her new little nephew so much and would watch him while Amanda went to work. Amanda says that, invariably, when she would get home, her whole house would be spotless! That was Stacey, always helping her sister by babysitting, cleaning Amanda's house, or by helping Amanda move her furniture around (apparently Amanda really likes to rearrange her furniture quite often).
Stacey also had a rather wicked sense of humor. Amanda remembers helping her sister clean her own house one time. Stacey asked Amanda to wash the floor and when Amanda couldn't get it all clean, Stacey told her to "put some elbow grease into it." Then she started to laugh and kept laughing. After awhile, Stacey told Amanda to stop cleaning because the black marks that Amanda was scrubbing were already there when Stacey had moved in and Stacey herself hadn't ever been able to get them off the floor. Amanda says, "All she did was laugh at me!"
When both Chris and Amanda had children, Stacey showered her love onto their boys, hoping one day to have a child of her own. She loved spending as much time as she could with Dylan and little Bruce, and would often buy them gifts, whether it be toys or clothing, or even if it was something really small like candy, just to make the two boys happy. She herself loved Spongebob Squarepants and had Spongebob seat covers in her car (she thought he was very, very funny). Her two nephews absolutely adored their Aunt Stacey because she was so much fun and so wonderfully talented. Regretfully, Stacey never got to meet Amanda's second son, Charlie.
Amanda is desolate without her sister. "When we got older, I stopped calling her Stacey. I called her "Stay." The reason I called her that was because I didn't want her to leave me. I loved hanging out with her. She's my sister and I love her very much. I will never, ever forget her and the time we had together."
What strikes one the most about Stacey is that she would do anything for anybody. She hated to see someone struggle or not have food, so she would help them out even when it meant she herself had to go without. She didn't care about that; as long as she could make someone else happy, she would be happy. And all her life, Stacey loved to laugh. Her laugh was priceless, full and warm, and brimming over with mirth or mischief. Her family is devastated that their most precious Christmas gift is gone from their lives now and that they will never be blessed to hear Stacey's laughter ever again.
There are not enough words in the world to express how much Stacey meant to her family or how deeply she will be missed by everyone who knew and loved her.