By Virginia Scholtz
Northside News
Hazel Evans was born into a family of eight children in Arkansas in 1929. They lived on a farm where Hazel learned many skills that most of us don’t use today. She could ring a chicken’s neck, clean it and cook it. She could milk a cow by hand and churn the milk to butter. One of her childhood favorites was crumbled cornbread with clabber milk poured over it. She remembers those times as happy days amid many loving people.
She started elementary school at the age of six. Her school, in the 1935 segregated community of Texarkana, had two rooms — one for the lower grades and one for the high school. A few years on, her own high school was in Nashville, Arkansas. Childress High School was established in 1922 as that town’s first high school for African American students.
Hazel has long been active in her Baptist church. As a young girl her hope was to one day become president of women’s auxiliary. She did become an official in her church, president of the local chapter of the Mission Society. Her mission work involved travel to many places in our county. She’s been to Florida, California, New York, Washington D.C. and Iowa, to name a few.
As a young woman, Hazel found herself living in Washington D.C. She worked as a companion to an elderly woman and then worked with a family who had one son, David. He reminded her of the brothers she had left behind in Arkansas. Although she was a nanny to the boy, the two became close friends. When the time came, parting would be difficult.
But in 1955 the time did come as Hazel was called to Madison by the elderly woman who first took her east. “That was a trick,” Hazel said. “She said she was very sick and needed care, but she wasn’t really.” After staying with the woman for a few months, Hazel found employment as a seamstress to a Madison industrialist and his family.
Her religion and participation at the Second Baptist Church provided many social contacts. One tall, lean fellow she met at church became her husband. Hazel Evans and James Wayne Tookes were married in 1957. At the time, Hazel’s job allowed her to live with the family she worked for. It seemed simpler to keep their newlywed status to themselves until they could find an apartment to share.
After three or four months, they did find a spot on Mifflin Street and could finally live together, wife and husband. Hazel took a job at a Madison hospital and James continued his employment at Oscar Mayer.
Adoption was a life changing event for Hazel and James. Unable to have a natural child, the couple had a struggle coming to the decision to adopt. James told Hazel he didn’t want to raise someone else’s child. Over time, and through conversations with a friend who was an adoptive father, he changed his mind. When they brought the baby into their home, James warmed to his new son, Wayne, right away, cradling him on the sofa while he took his first nap with dad and mom.
And there was another person to consider. Hazel’s 10-year-old sister, Edneata, (called Nea, pronounced “knee”) had come to live with them and go to school here. In the racial turmoil of the 1960s south, her parents were afraid for the girls’ safety. They were afraid, too, for her older brother who swore he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. Hazel wasn’t sure how Nea would feel about sharing with a baby. But the minute she got home from school and saw young Wayne, she couldn’t get enough of him. It was love at first sight for all parties.
The years passed. Edneata graduated and went on to college, graduating from UW Milwaukee. Wayne, aspiring to be a chef, went to MATC. After 35 years of work, James retired. He died too early, in the year 2005. Wayne lived 10 more years, but in 2015 his life was cut short by cancer.
About 13 years ago, Hazel was in her yard when a man she’d never met stopped by to say that he was planning a “green-built” makeover project to be sponsored by the Madison Area Builders Association. Someone who knew someone who knew someone had suggested her Dayton Street property.
Hazel agreed and the project was featured in local papers and on television news. The decade’s old home was stripped of its outdated furnace, appliances, wiring and plumbing, and energy efficient systems replaced it all. It was a shining jewel when Hazel moved back in. You can see the final results on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=p40vEVRRFKU.
Looking back, Hazel recalls some of the people outside of family who were significant in her life. She met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was attending a meeting in Madison. More than political activism, church and mission work played a big part in Hazel’s life. She holds high praise for Dr. Sudie Ethel Tatum, known in Wisconsin and across the nation as a great Baptist leader, author, missionary and Christian educator. She was president of the state Baptist Mission.
When asked “What do you think of the current unrest?” Hazel’s one word remark was “Terrible.” Especially disturbing to her are the trash talk that comes from our current president and the brutal and insensitive use of force by some police.
A couple of years ago Hazel moved from her house on East Dayton Street to a senior apartment complex on North Sherman Avenue. She still keeps up many friendships in Madison and across the country. She tries not to focus on the sad or worrisome parts of life and to keep a positive outlook.
Asked “are you hopeful or discouraged about the future?” Hazel Tookes had this to say, “I’m livin’ in hope!”
If you’re interested in being interviewed for the “Meet a Northside Neighbor” feature, or know of someone else on the Northside with a story to share (we think that’s everyone!), please get in touch with us at
editor@northsidenews.org, 608-204-7023, or by mail at 1219 N. Sherman Ave, Madison, WI 51714.