Born 100 years ago today in Detroit, Michigan, Hazel Margaret Lefler was raised by French Canadian parents who settled in Los Angeles, California when she was two years old, where she grew up with her younger brother. A love of education developed early. She graduated with a B.A. in Education from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1940 and was a graduate student at Wheaton College from 1940-1941, receiving her M.R.E. in 1964 from San
Francisco Theological Seminary.
Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles was Hazel Harken’s religious home during the college years. She met Charles Harken, an aeronautical engineer, there and they were married in 1941. After starting a family, they were appointed as missionaries in 1947 by the Board . . .

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