Carol Lee Hattler

Carol Lee (Hadley) Hattler, age 89, passed away at home peacefully with her children by her side on May 4, 2023, in Gainesville, VA. Carol was a beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and devoted friend to many. A three-time cancer and Polio survivor, she was born on September 19, 1933, in Louisville, KY to Etna Deborah (Hayes) Hadley and Wilbur John Hadley. Her older brother is Alfred Hayes “Brett” Hadley, nickname “Happy” of Woodland Hills, CA. Carol spent the first 8 years of her life in Louisville, KY with her maternal grandparents, aunt, parents, and brother. When she was 2 years old, she won the Miss Shirley Temple Look-alike Contest in Louisville, KY. During the Great Depression, her father lived part of this time in Venezuela, South America running a hospital in Caracas. Carol, her mother, and brother planned to relocate to Caracas to join her father, however, she contracted Polio and therefore, was not allowed to leave the country. Carol spent the next year bedridden and in a cast. Her father moved back to the United States in 1944. The family relocated to Albuquerque, NM for work opportunities available to both parents at Loveless Clinic (later Lovelace Hospital) and worked there for 5 years. In 1949, the family relocated again, moving to Carrizozo, NM where her father served as head of three departments simultaneously: Hospital Administrator, Radiology, and the Laboratory. Her mother was Head Surgical Nurse. Carrizozo is in the heart of ranching country of New Mexico. It was here that the entire family established what would become, lifelong friendships with several of the ranching families. Making life-long friends became a trait of the family, which Carol embraced throughout her life. Up until her death, she had friends from each place she lived. Once Carol claimed you as a friend, you became family. Carol attended Carrizozo High School until her senior year. Since the school was not accredited, as an act of courage, she left her family of origin and moved across the country to Atlanta, GA. While in GA, she resided with her aunt and uncle, Mary and Charles Hayes, in order to attend Druid Hills High School for her senior year. She graduated in 1952 and then entered Emory University School of Nursing. At that time, Emory was an all-male college, with the exception of the nursing school, which was small, starting with 30 students in her class. At graduation, there were 16 students left. Most of her education occurred at Emory. However, several required clinical rotations were not available locally. Therefore, she and her fellow classmates spent 3 months in Raleigh, NC for the psychiatric rotation and another 3 months in New York City at Columbia University Baby Hospital. The class graduated in 1956 and all remained life-long friends. While in North Carolina, she met her future husband John “Jack” Frederick Hattler on a blind date. They dated during the 3-month time frame while she was in Raleigh. After this time, they lost touch for 3 years. When she graduated from Emory, she moved back to New Mexico. Jack left North Carolina and joined the Navy. Three years later, they reconnected and married in 1959 in Albuquerque, NM. Carol and Jack were married for 35 years. During that time, they had 4 children and lived in different areas across the United Stated while Jack was a pilot for the Navy and later American Airlines. Carol continued her career at various bases, at local hospitals, and doctor offices. She worked in numerous specialties over the years to include Hospice, Orthopedics, Med-Surg, Pediatrics, Allergists, and as a floater, meaning she could work on any type of unit, at any time. Carol, a devoted wife, supported Jack’s career every step of the way. When he was promoted to chief pilot of American Airlines, she helped him with various aspects including celebrations, for example promotions of pilots to Captain. Carol also helped Jack when he had to inform a wife of a pilot when the pilot died during a trip. Her compassion and experience as a Hospice nurse and her experience as a pilot’s wife helped her husband greatly. Carol always loved learning and returned to college to study interior design. She enjoyed home improvement projects and she and Jack would improve every place they lived. As a team, Carol and Jack improved both inside and outside their homes. They would visit model homes to get ideas of new projects, figuring out ways to incorporate the various projects into their home. Jack always enjoyed seeing Carol’s latest project or craft and Carol was always proud of Jack’s projects: building furniture, grandfather clocks, or adding finishing touches (crown molding or wainscoting) to the house. Jack would also tear down walls or redesign their house, which Carol for the most part would show patience. The patience ended when Jack designed a second story on their one-story ranch style house. Her response: “who is cleaning that second floor, not me?!” Needless to say, a second story was never built. Instead, they bought a beach house in Atlantic Beach, NC that was falling down. Jack told Carol “We can save this house.” Over next the year, they did save the house, which the family enjoyed for 10 years. Carol and Jack had a strong marriage of give, take, compromise, support, humor, friendship, and love. Faith was a central part of Carol’s life. Her upbringing was in the Baptist Church. As a college student, she became a Methodist. At the age of was 25 she chose to convert to the Catholic faith in which she said she “found her home.” She enjoyed exploring all aspects of her faith. She and daughter went on a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal in 2005. For her 75th birthday she and Diane went on a Pilgrimage through Ireland with Bishop Welsh. In the 1970s, she taught CCD to high school students. She so loved learning about the faith that in 2005, she and Diane, enrolled in RCIA to study the basics of her faith. From an early age, Carol’s life was devoted to the service of others. She would recognize various needs around her and search for solutions. For example, while attending college in segregated Georgia, she learned that the textbooks used in black colleges in the Atlanta area were outdated. She went door-to-door throughout the dormitories to collect unwanted textbooks to donate to two black colleges: Spellman (woman’s) and Morehouse (men’s). As a thank you, one of the colleges invited her and several others to attend a weekend retreat. This retreat was led by a local “up and coming” minister by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. It was highly unusual at that time for white college students to stay at a black college for the weekend. The weekend itself was such a profound experience for Carol and Martin Luther King Jr was so inspiring that she asked him where he would be preaching. He explained that it was at his father’s church, Ebenezer Baptist Church. He invited her and the other retreat participants to attend. The following weekend, she and two other students went to the church which created quite a stir among the parishioners. Carol and her 2 friends discovered they were the first white students to go to that church. However, they were quickly and personally welcomed by Martin Luther King Sr., who stepped aside to allow his son to preach the service that day. Carol continued to live a life of service. Carol and Jack were among the first homeowners in the new Greenbriar subdivision in Fairfax, Virginia in 1967. It was shortly thereafter that Carol co-founded the Greenbriar Women’s Club in 1968 which focuses on helping others on a community, state and even global scale, a club that exists today. She received a personal letter of commendation from President Nixon for her role with implementing the Safe House Program in Greenbriar. In addition to the Greenbriar Women’s Club, Carol also founded a gardening club and mystery book club. Carol loved travelling. In addition to travel within the United States, she went to Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Ireland, Portugal and even an independent, month long trip to New Zealand following the death of her husband. Carol used her nursing skills with her family in addition to her career. While her husband was dying of cancer, she became his caregiver and by his side during the last 15 months of his illness giving comfort and support. Her nursing skills also saved her youngest son’s life when he was 33. A doctor tried to tell the family that Rob had a migraine and should go home. Carol questioned the doctor and asked what medical tests he performed on her son and listed various tests he should perform. His response was to ask if she was a doctor. Her response: “No, better, I am a nurse.” The doctor ran the tests and learned that her son had had a stroke and he was transferred to Georgetown Hospital, saving his life. After Carol lost her husband and after her daughter left Nevada and returned to Virginia, the two moved to Gainesville, VA to Heritage Hunt in 2002 joining Holy Trinity Catholic Church. She loved living in this community, making new friends, trying new activities like Pinochle, going to plays, opera, and various church activities. Carol is known for her sense of humor and wit. She would tell jokes both verbally and physically. At times, when she wanted to get something over on someone, she would tell jokes with a straight face, making others believe she was telling the truth. When her daughter worked in Las Vegas, NV as a geologist, Carol would tell everyone she met that Diane was the head stripper at Caesar’s Casino. When her daughter would return home for holidays, she would either be ignored by people or would be asked for discounted room rates at Caesar’s. When Diane confronted her mother, Carol would laugh and say, “At least I picked a classy casino.” Carol was beautiful inside and out. Roberta Halden, a friend of 72 years, states that when she and her family moved to Carrizozo, the local girls were shocked to see how pretty she was and feared she would steal their boyfriends. Carol, however, won them over with her kindness, wit, and humor. Survived by “Happy” Hadley (brother), Diane Yvonne Hattler (daughter), Robert (Tiffany) Hadley Hattler (son), Megan Lee Hattler (granddaughter); Tiffany Hattler, Laura Reid, and Christine Beaver (daughters-in-laws); Linda Hayes Visk, Karen and Tom Lawler, Sally and Mike Goodman, Michelle Ford (cousins). Preceded in death: Her parents Etna (1987) and Wib Hadley (1979), husband Jack Hattler (1995), and sons David Craig Hattler (2020) and John Richard Hattler (1967) Services for Carol Hattler: Viewing: Thursday, May 18th, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Location: Pierce Funeral Home. 9609 Center St., Manassas, VA 20110. Funeral Mass: Friday, May 19th, 10:30 a.m. Location: Holy Trinity Catholic Church. 8213 Linton Hall Rd, Gainesville, VA 20155 Burial: Friday, May 19th, 1:00 p.m. Location: Fairfax Memorial Park. 9900 Braddock Rd, Fairfax, VA 22032 Section: Garden of Time Reception: Friday, May 19th, 2:30 - 4 p.m. Location: Holy Trinity Catholic Church. 8213 Linton Hall Rd, Gainesville, VA 20155 In lieu of flowers, please consider one of the following charities. Youth Apostles 1600 Carlin Lane McLean, VA 22101. 703-556-0914. www.youthapotles.org Put “In memory of Carol Hattler” in the memo space on the check and also include in the accompanying letter. Office of Gift Accounting Emory University School of Nursing 1762 Clifton Road, Suite 2400 Atlanta, GA 30322 Put “In memory of Carol Hattler for the Nursing School” in the memo space on the check and also include in the accompanying letter. St. Jude’s. www.stjude.org Put “In memory of Carol Hattler” in the memo space on the check and also include in the accompanying letter. Please send notification of this gift to Carol's daughter, in the letter to the various charity to Pierce Funeral Home.

Carol Lee Hattler

September 19, 1933 - May 4, 2023