Uncrowned Community Builders

Hazel Cornelia Bryant Van Landingham was born in Quitman, Georgia on August 26, 1923. Her parents were Samuel and Jimmie Manning Bryant. She was the third of four children, Willie Samuel, Turner Benjamin and John Henry. Life on a farm provided unconditional love from parents that stressed the benefits of higher education.

Hazel attended Brooks County High School and continued her education at Tuskegee College where she received a Bachelor's Degree I Education. She taught in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for several years. She decided to further her education by attending the State University of New York at Buffalo and receiving her Master's Degree in Education. Hazel moved to Buffalo, New York permanently in 1966 where she taught at Southside Elementary.

Soon afterwards she met and married Henry Lee VanLandingham in August of 1967. Hazel and Henry retired to Ocala, Florida in 1985 where they remained together until his death in 2006. Hazel relocated back to Buffalo in November 2007 to be closer to her immediate family.

Hazel was a very active member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church and worked very hard with the Altar Guild, making frontals and linens for the altar. Hazel and Henry later became members of Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in Ocala, Florida. Hazel became a member of Xi Epsilon Omega, Amherst Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 1987. She attended the Los Angeles Boule and hosted many AKA affairs at her Hamburg, New York home.