| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 22, 23, 203.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 11 Sep 2005.
Dorothy Deanne Ogle obituary
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 4 Jul 2009.
Bell family float at Gatlinburg parade
The Bell family's float in the Gatlinburg Fourth of July parade paid tribute to Hazel Bell Kuzmaul's fame as
Great Smoky Mountain National Park's "Churn Girl." A photo of the 16-year-old Cosby resident churning
butter was taken by noted photographer Charles Grossman and later became one of the Park's most famous
images. Kuzmaul, now 89 and a Pennsylvania resident, reigned over her family's float in a setting complete
with an antique churn and cane-bottomed chair. Others on the float included her sister, Wilma Bell Proffitt,
Newport; and two sisters-in-law, ReVel Dorsey Bell, Cosby, and Elsie Beckham Bell, Hawthorne, Florida, plus
over 25 other family members stretching into four generations. The float also paid tribute to numerous family
members who have served in America's armed forces.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 9 Apr 2013.
Cosby Academy's Centennial: Kuszmaul, Butler are keynote speakers
Author: Duay O'Neil
COSBY-Two of Cosby High School's past valedictorians are returning to their alma mater Saturday as keynote speakers at the school's 100th birthday celebration.
Hazel Bell Kuszmaul of Pennsylvania graduated from Cosby High School in 1937 as a 16-year-old valedictorian, and Roger Butler of Alabama finished at the head of his class in 1961.
Kuszmaul, who first graduated from the one-room McMillan School in upper Cosby, entered Cosby High School as a sophomore in the fall of 1934, just weeks after the former Cosby Academy had been sold to the county by its former Baptist owners. She and her sister, the late Mary Bell Smith, had attended Cocke County High School as freshmen the prior year.
Roger Butler and his twin sister, Rita, graduated from Cosby High in 1961. Children of the late Ardell and Viola Butler, both became highly successful in their chosen fields.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 17 Mar 2017.
Hazel Ruth Bell Kuszmaul , age 96, formerly of Newport, Tenn., was welcomed into the presence of the Lord on March 15, 2017. She was the wife of the late Charles Kuszmaul with whom she celebrated 68 years of marriage until his death in 2010.
Born and raised in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains in Catons Grove, Tennessee, she was one of 11 children born to the late James H. and Nancy Presnell Bell. Always known for her keen intelligence and determination to excel, she was valedictorian of Cosby High School in Cosby, Tennessee, in 1937. At the age of 16, she was churning butter on her family's back porch when a photographer for the National Park Service snapped her picture. This photograph of the "churn girl" has become an iconic image of that era and has been widely reproduced in the park guides, local histories, cookbooks and even a historic highway marker.
Hazel received degrees from Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, N.C., where she met Charles, and Baylor University, Waco, Tex., where they married. A country-girl-meets-city-boy romance, Hazel and Charles raised their three daughters between Charles' hometown, Baltimore, Md., and Newport, Tenn., where they kept a house for many years.
Hazel helped Charles, a Baptist minister, start many churches in the Baltimore-Washington area but primarily was a teacher. Her first teaching assignment at age 19 was in a two-room school house in the rural Blacks community of Cocke County, Tennessee. Over a 40-year career, she was a teacher at Cosby High School, Newport Grammar School, and in Baltimore City Public Schools. She retired as the librarian for Arlington Baptist School, Baltimore.
Hazel inspired all who knew her to do their best and to believe that any goal they chose was within their grasp. She was industrious, always with a project at hand, and enjoyed reading, sewing and handwork of all kinds, gardening, canning, and baking. Throughout her life, she remained interested in the world and current affairs.
In her later years, she lived in Coatesville and Atglen, Pa. At age 94, she moved with a daughter to Homer, Alaska, where she enjoyed the mountains and natural beauty, often imagining herself back in her mountain home of Tennessee.
Surviving her are daughters and sons-in-law Nanette Williams of Port Charlotte, Fla., Charlene and Clair Leaman of New Holland, Pa., and Marcia Kuszmaul and Mannfried Funk of Homer, Alaska., 6 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, brother Clyde Bell of Hawthorne, Fla., and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by brothers Edmond Bell, Chester Bell, James Bell and Charles Bell and sisters Mary Smith, Wilma Proffitt, Dorothy Ogle, Louise Kyker and Aileen Bell and by her much-loved in-laws, Ethel and Lawrence Kuszmaul.
Funeral service will be 11 a.m., March 24, at Shivery Funeral Home, 111 Elizabeth St, Christiana, Pa., with family visitation at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Highview Memorial Gardens, Fallston, Md. Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Homer (hospiceofhomer.org).
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 177467014).
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