Hazel Rose Cota passed away on June 22, 2023, in Crescent City, CA. She was 88 years old. Hazel was kind-hearted, genuine, hard-working, caring, and kind to all. She enjoyed every moment she could spend with family and friends.
Born September 12, 1934, in the Sea Port of El Bluff, Nicaragua, to Luis Emilio Guitierrez and Nellie (Nell) Inez Salter. Luis and Nell had two daughters, Hazel Rose Amelia Guitierrez, and Nellie Inez Guitierrez.
Her parents divorced and her mom remarried - to John Jesser, who adopted Hazel and Nellie. They lived in Panama, where Hazel and her sister, Nellie, used to play in the Panama Canal Locks.
John and Nell moved the family to San Francisco, CA, where they had two children of their own, Debra and Johnny. San Francisco is also where Hazel met and married James (Jim) Francis Hancock, deceased.Hazel and Jim moved to Daly City, CA, Santa Cruz, CA, and then Salinas, CA, and later divorced.Hazel is survived by their five children: Asa Wilson, Teri Lynn Hancock, Jamie Frances Oswald (Rick), Hazel Rose Hancock, and Adam Johnathon Hancock.
Hazel remarried, and is survived by her husband, John Cota. They lived in Salinas for many years, where she worked as Head of Operations in a Frozen Food facility and was an active Member of the Teamsters Union. They moved to Crescent City, CA in 1991, where they were both involved in the Crescent City Senior Center.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Nellie Inez McGuire (Wayne), her nephews, Thomas and Brian McGuire, and her son-in-law, Leonard Wilson.
Hazel loved to laugh, dance, sing, shop, and spend time with her family and friends. She made every day special, be it a Birthday, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or just “Tuesday”. She was, and always will be, the center of her family, and family was always first. She was a devout Catholic, and taught her children, and those who were lucky enough to be touched by her, to give and receive love, like nobody else!
A Funeral Mass was held on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Crescent City, CA.