Professor Hazelrigg dies at 90

 

By LIZ MAPLES
Staff Writer

 

September 6, 2005

 

Charles Tabb Hazelrigg, who died Saturday, was called one of the most popular, well-loved professors to teach at Centre College.

 

Hazelrigg, 90, of Danville, taught English at the college for more than 40 years before retiring in 1988.

 

Shortly before retiring, Hazelrigg said, "Teaching has never seemed to me to be a job. It's been an avocation as well as a vocation. In fact, I've sometimes felt it's been my raison d'etre."

 

Bill Dishman, a Danville attorney and one of Hazelrigg's students in the 1950s, said, "He was the perfect college professor. ... He lived a life of example. ... I've admired him so much; his strength, love for his family, love for his students. ... This is a tremendous loss to the city of Danville and to Centre College."

 

Born August 18, 1915, in Mount Sterling, he was the son of the late Charles Tibbs and Mattie Tabb Hazelrigg.

 

He graduated from Centre College in 1937 as valedictorian, and he was an instructor of English at Centre in 1941-1942. His masters and doctorate degrees were earned from Yale University, and then he returned to Centre to teach for 41 years. He served as chairman of the Department of English until 1967, when he became chairman of Centre's Humanities Division.

 

In 1953, he published American Literary Pioneer: A Biographical Study of James A. Hillhouse. He was a member of the Modern Language Association and the National and Kentucky Councils of Teachers of English.

 

Centre awarded him an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree

 

He was the first Matton Professor of English at Centre, chairman of the Faculty Committee on Athletics, advisor to Delta Kappa Epsilon and coach of the tennis team. The college awarded him an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree. On his retirement in 1988, Hazelrigg said, "A liberal arts school doesn't teach you to make a living. It teaches you how to live your life, which is much more important."

 

At that time, Mark Lucas, a former student who now teaches at Centre, said, "If you combine Cary Grant with T.S. Eliot, you would have Charles Hazelrigg in the classroom. You felt like the beginning of class should be announced by somebody like Ed McMahon saying, 'Here's Charlie!'"

 

Today Lucas said that Hazelrigg was his teaching mentor. "He was always interested in the whole person, educating the students in character as well as intellect."

 

"He was very intelligent, an expert on T.S. Eliot, but he wore his learning very lightly ... there was never any pretension."

 

Lucas said he was also stylish and a great dancer. "He was the opposite of the professor stereotype ... he was never rumpled or absent minded. He was socially graceful."

 

As Hazelrigg prepared to leave his office on the fourth floor of the Doherty Library, he had given away 600 books, and still had a plethora. In one fling cabinet he had his lecture notes and syllabuses, and in another he had correspondence from his students.

 

"I wouldn't take a million dollars for this," he said.

 

When he left Centre he said, "I'll be like the old fire horse when he hears the bell clang. When school starts I'll want to be in class."

 

Active in the community

 

Hazelrigg was chairman of the Boyle County Red Cross, member, past president and Paul Harris Fellow of the Danville Rotary Club. In 1954, he was named the "Outstanding Citizen" of Boyle County. He was a member of the Human Relations Board and the Anaconda Club. He was an elder emeritus at First Christian Church and taught the goodwill class there for more than 40 years. The Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce gave him the "Leadership Award" in 1999, and he was recently honored with the naming of the Charles T. Hazelrigg Gymnasium at Centre College.

 

A lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he was commander of the LST-477, which was hit by a Japanese suicide plane and a bomb during the occupation of Iwo Jima in February 1945.

 

Despite the damage, the ship completed its mission under Hazelrigg's command. He and his crew were awarded the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon.

 

Survivors include his wife, Margie Hazelrigg; a daughter, Anne Kerbaugh of Danville; and eight grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Charles Tabb Hazelrigg, Jr.

 

Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Christian Church. Burial will be in Bellevue Cemetery. Visitation is after 4 p.m. today at the church.

 

Memorials may go to the First Christian Love Fund, the Charles T. Hazelrigg Scholarship Fund or the Tabb Hazelrigg Scholarship Fund.

 

Stith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.