Farewell to Athlone News journo, Hazel Allies

Captain Ian Bennett, Manenberg police station spokesman 

Allow me to celebrate a woman called Hazel. She grew up as a journalist, while I grew up as a police officer.  

Our paths crossed because of crime and grime within the Athlone policing precinct. What an amazing life journey. Hazel, it is with great admiration and deep appreciation that I take this opportunity to acknowledge your unwavering dedication, journalistic excellence, and the profound impact you have had on the community of Athlone.

Hazel seemed to just appear at events or situations. Just as she would appear, she also emerged as a powerful journalist of note. 

Looking back, I came to know Hazel before her two girls were even twinkles in her eyes. This young, feisty lady never showed a scared hair on her head, always willing to take on the world, making her pen a weapon of choice.

She walked the streets of the greater Athlone area, rain or sunshine, never hunting stories, as the stories followed her. 

Her tenacity, kindness, and perseverance built the Athlone News and left a legacy of humanity. Hazel, you are an amazing journalist who became a friend not just to me, but to my family. 

You are the face of the Athlone community newspaper.  You could tell a story that made people sit up and feel the greatness around them, always telling the story through the eyes and heart of the storyteller. 

Never making it your own or taking credit, you were always the medium through which the community could make their stories heard.  This has made you the greatest ever.

Athlone has never been the same since you took up your pen and penned so many stories of sadness, highs and lows, and great achievements of the great Athlone. 

You lived the Athlone News, always willing to go out with pen and pad. 

Later, you developed your skill at taking your own pics.  Standing your ground amongst notorious gangs.  The power of what you wrote paved the respect that even those who were notorious held for the woman they called Hazel. 

Watching your family grow is evidence of the miracle you created as a woman - a true woman of strength for sure. 

A woman of kindness, a woman of love, the woman who should be called mother. 

A mother not only to your family but a mother journalist,  a mother who walked the lonely streets day or night,  literally selling Athlone News door to door because this is what you did, you became a seller of a legacy called Athlone News to a small coloured nation called Athlone.

Hazel Allies is a household name. Hazel Allies Husselman is the amazing woman you became. 

You have become the greatest journalist whose feet have walked the streets of Athlone, whose heart lives within the stories of Athlone, whose pen has come to its final resting place. 

Your pen might not scrawl across pages anymore, but the indentation it leaves will echo the lines it was supposed to fill.

God bless you and your family on your new life's journey. A new beginning, a new story, but I think always with “Athlone” signed below.

On behalf of SAPS Manenberg and the grateful hearts of Athlone,  thank you for being the extraordinary journalist, friend, and community stalwart that you are.  May your next chapter be as impactful and inspiring as the legacy you leave behind.