Hazel Baxley McFadden

Hazel Baxley McFadden, age 100, a native of Baxley, passed away Sunday, January 12, 2025 at Magnolia Springs Memory Care in Florence, Kentucky.

Mrs. Hazel was born October 30, 1924, in Appling County and graduated from the Georgia School of the Deaf in Cave Springs, Georgia. She married the love of her life, Sgt. Major Martin Joseph McFadden in February 1949. Mrs. Hazel started working as a key punch operator for the Department of the Army at Fort McPhearson in 1945 and worked there until she retired as a computer operator in 1984. She spent her childhood in Baxley before moving to Decatur, Georgia in 1954. She later returned home and lived in Baxley until relocating to Magnolia Springs Memory Care in 2020 where she resided until her death. She was a lifetime member of the Georgia Association of the Deaf and the National Association of the Deaf.

 Mrs. Hazel is preceded in death by her parents, Hilton D. Baxley, Sr. (1890-1964) and Mary Ethel Branch Baxley (1892-1975); and seven siblings, Wilma Baxley Collins (1915-2006), Frankie Baxley Highsmith (1917-2002), Hilton D. “Buddy” Baxley, Jr. (1926-2006), Wilton “Sug” Baxley (1928-2022), Carl H. Baxley (1930-1992), and Doris Jean Baxley Bailey (1932-1974).

Survivors include her daughter, Mary Ethel McFadden of Union, Kentucky; her sister Shirley Baxley Lamb of Baxley; and many nieces and nephews also survive.

Funeral services will be held Friday, January 17, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel of Swain Funeral Home with Rev. James Minick officiating. Interment will follow in Omega Cemetery.

Honorary pallbearers will be Jackie Baxley Yeomans, Patsy Bailey Hockaday, Marian Baxley Spears, Marlyn Baxley Phillips, and Marsha Baxley Massey. 

 Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral service. 

Memorial contributions may be made to the Georgia Association of the Deaf 2296 Henderson Mill Rd. #115 Atlanta, GA 30345 (www.deafga.org/make-a-donation).

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Swain Funeral Home.