Hazel M. Gambill, 78


Hazel Moyers Gambill, 78, of Strasburg, Va., went to be with her Lord and Savior on Dec. 1, 2007, at the Blue Ridge Hospice Residential Center in Winchester, Va. She had been a cancer survivor for 27 years. Over the past five years, she suffered two more battles with cancer, the last cancer was inoperable. She will be missed by many.

Born March 24, 1929, near Singers Glen, Va., Hazel was the daughter of Fred P. and Tessie W. Moyers. She graduated from Linville-Edom High School in 1946. A few days before her graduation her beloved older sister, Mabel M. Moyers, 19, was killed as a passenger in a car crash in Washington, D.C. Hazel and Mabel were known as the Moyers Sisters and had sung hymns together on WSVA Radio in Harrisonburg, Va. in the early 1940s. Hazel deeply felt the loss of her dear talented sister.

Hazel worked six years as a typist with the Rockingham County Welfare Department. On April 26, 1952, she married Kenton F. Gambill of Harrisonburg, Va. They had met on a blind date. Ten months after their marriage they became parents to their one and only child. In 1954 when her husband was hired as a teacher at Strasburg High School, they moved to Strasburg, Va. She was a stay-at-home mom for nearly 10 years. During her marriage she worked the longest as a sales clerk at the Woodstock Leggett Department Store from 1964 to 1977. She easily made friends. She had an inner and outer beauty.

She had been an active member of the Strasburg Presbyterian Church. Previously she had been a member of the United Church of the Brethren in Singers Glen and the Harrisonburg Baptist Church. She rededicated her life to Jesus Christ after her daughter became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ at Va. Tech. Later she was baptized in the New River in Blacksburg, Va. She participated in Women's Aglow and many other Bible Studies. She enjoyed sharing her personal faith in Christ with others.

She was preceded in death by her sister, her father, and her mother, who lived to be two days short of 101 years old.

She is survived by her husband of 55 years, and her loving daughter, Diane K. Gambill of Winchester. Also surviving is her only brother, Harmon D. Moyers of Singers Glen, who now resides at Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation in Winchester.

A gathering to celebrate her homecoming into heaven will be held at Stover's Funeral Home in Strasburg at 11:00 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2007, then following at 2:00 p.m. at the Singers Glen Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Blue Ridge Hospice, 333 West Cork St., Suite 405, Winchester, VA 22601. http://www.blueridgehospice.org/