Hazel E. Melchior, a retired registered nurse and avid reader, died Aug. 18 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson.
She was 88.
The daughter of a postal worker and a homemaker, Hazel E. Bready was born and raised in Haverhill, Mass., where she graduated from high school in 1941.
She received her nurse's training in Maine and was working in Massachusetts when she met her husband, George W. Melchior Sr., whom she married in 1946.
The couple moved to Baltimore after their marriage and Mrs. Melchior worked in the medical-surgical wing of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for more than 30 years, retiring in 1988.
Mr. Melchior, an accountant, died in 1991.
A Book of the Month Club member for years, Mrs. Melchior was a regular at the Enoch Pratt Free Library branch in Hamilton, where she enjoyed reading books on The New York Times best-seller list.
She was also a duckpin bowler and enjoyed walking.
The longtime Hamilton resident, who had moved to Joyous Living, a White Marsh assisted-living facility, was a member of Bethesda United Methodist Church on Harford Road.
Services were Aug. 22 at the Evans Funeral Chapel in Parkville.
Surviving are two sons, George W. Melchior Jr. of Rosedale and Charles B. Melchior of Joppatowne; a daughter, Cassie Lee Bichy of White Marsh; a sister, Shirley Gifford of Methuen, Mass.; and a granddaughter.