Hazel Barker Ebsary's Obituary
Hazel Barker Ebsary passed peacefully surrounded by family on June 29th at the age of 91. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, William Frederick Ebsary, her children: Albert Davis Lucas, Jr. of Tampa; R. Scott Lucas of Santa Cruz; W. F. “Casey” Ebsary, Jr. of Tampa; Kelly Andrea Ebsary of Santa Monica; her daughter-in-law Jodi Ann Baudean; her three grandchildren: Keyna Chinchilla-Herrera of Costa Rica; W.F. “Sonny” Ebsary, III of Tampa and Cora Lee Ebsary of Indian Shores. She is also survived by her siblings (and spouses) Jacqueline (and Leland) Bolt, W.F. (and Raye) Barker, Madge (and Sid) Perry, Nelva Dean Jones, Lin Trenton (and Sandy) Barker, Gary (and Linda) Barker with too many nieces and nephews to list.
She was born in Crestview Florida and was the oldest of ten children. As a teenager, she reported for the Pensacola News and joined the Navy where she became the proud print model for the Navy Waves. She continued her modeling career in New York City and was a resident of the famous Barbizon Hotel for Women which was an elite fortress for single girls seeking fame and fortune in the Big Apple.
She met and married Captain Albert Davis “Red” Lucas on November 4, 1945,
in Philadelphia.They moved where the Navy needed them including Brooklyn Heights New York, Rhode Island, and Omaha Nebraska. Hazel learned to run the household, entertain the officers and their wives and raise their two sons. Hazel and Red decided that Red would take his next assignment in Virginia while Hazel and the boys would move back home to Tampa Florida.
Upon returning to the Sunshine State, she met her husband Bill at the Unitarian Universalist Church. After a whirlwind thirty-day romance and intense negotiations, Bill agreed to forgo sugar in his coffee, Hazel agreed to change her party affiliation to Democrat and they married on July 6, 1957.
The couple were pioneers in the restoration of their Hyde Park neighborhood and began renovations to their 1920’s home in 1958. An architect at the time advised them that “he hoped they knew that they had purchased their home in an incipient slum area.” In 1974, their creative innovations and resplendent landscaping were featured in The Tampa Tribune. Almost without exception, every piece in the home was a treasure that she found at an auction or “thrifting” which she repurposed to suit her vision.
Her response to the austerity of her childhood led her on a lifelong quest to find “truth and beauty.” This aspect of her creativity was expressed in both her home and her appearance. She was a stylist and designed and created a number of her own gowns without patterns which often included her own hand embroidery and beading.
She participated in the founding of Tampa Preparatory School. She was a member of The Chiselers a Support Organization Dedicated to the Restoration and Preservation of the Tampa Bay Hotel on the Campus of The University of Tampa.
In 1988, the couple moved to their summer home, in the Town of Indian Shores where Hazel was active both politically and as a volunteer. She was a member of the Code Enforcement Board for 8 years and then a volunteer in the library for at least another 10 years.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 10 am, Saturday, July 22, 2017 at the Indian Shores Town Hall, 19305 Gulf Blvd, Indian Shores, FL 33785. Her ashes will be interred at the family plot in De Funiak Springs.
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