Obituary
Carol Hazard

Carol Jane Hazard, daughter of Dr. John Hazard and Agnes Gallagher Hazard, passed away on October 23, 2024. She was born on July 26, 1942, and had a long and interesting life of achievements and adventures, but upon meeting her, Carol would first tell you that she had five children and a Ph. D.

She earned her Ph. D. in climatology at UNC-CH, and was an early authority on climate change and its impact on public health. She was a dedicated geography professor at Meredith College and UNC-G, and held a Master’s degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health, and a bachelor’s of science from the University of St. Thomas. She was also a Master Gardener, a precinct official, a wedding coordinator, and more.

But she was most proud of rearing, or possibly just surviving, her five children, Joe, Matt, Erin, Peter, and Catherine. She had her first two sons, Irish twins, before she turned 21. With good reason, she claimed that these two boys drove her to drink—although none of her kids were a walk in the park. She often said that having three sons would guarantee her entry into heaven. Patience wasn’t a trait she honed until she had her fifth child. (The youngest disagrees with this sentiment.)

She never thanked her children for all of the material they provided her for stories at dinner parties, but we know how much joy it brought us all when she recalled their antics, like the time Joe used the kitchen tongs to remove a black snake from the roof outside his window, before returning the tongs to the drawer.

Her kids loved making her laugh, right up to her final days. It always felt like the best win, making her laugh. She had a ready sense of humor. On her first date with Winston Liao, her husband of forty-nine years, she quipped, upon being seated at the restaurant’s tree-stump table, “We need to add a leaf for more space for the food.” Winston laughed as she plucked a leaf from an overhanging branch and deposited it into a crack in the table. Over their years together, they gardened, cooked, and traveled to the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, and Scandinavia. They served on many committees at St. Thomas More Catholic Church and had many dear, decades-long friendships in the church community and beyond.

Carol was truly and effortlessly beautiful, curious about everything, and deeply principled, a devoted Catholic and a die-hard feminist. She practiced, and instilled in her children, good manners and a strong sense of duty; she fiercely confronted injustice, no matter the optics. She loved dancing, working out on the rowing machine, and sharing her love of science, especially with her grandchildren. She kept endless lists, and lists of her lists. She could identify birds and trees and make a meal from any random set of ingredients. Weather was a passion of hers, as a scientist and a gardener, and naturally, the dewpoint dropped on the day she died, as high pressure moved in and provided a cool day with blue skies to comfort everyone in their grief.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents, as well as her brother, John Hazard, and her sister, Margaret Bennett.

In addition to her loving husband, Winston, Carol is survived by her sister, Sharon Wright and brother-in-law, Bill Wright, and her sister-in-law, Nancy Hazard (John); her five children and their partners: Joe and Lynne Donoghue, Matt Donoghue and Elizabeth Isenhour, Erin and Al Baldwin, Peter Liao and Susan Brown, Catherine Liao and Neal Morris; her grandchildren: Lauren Donoghue Brewster and Leslie Donoghue Seeley, Henry and Sean Donoghue, Emma, Laura and Lily Baldwin, Jack and Sara Liao, and Clara and James Morris; as well as many beloved nieces, nephews, and cousins. To all who knew her, Carol was a bright and irrepressible force; her absence is as unthinkable as the sun’s from the sky.