Funeral services for Hazel L. (Cox) Bendfeldt, 93, of Mentor, will be at 11 AM on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at the Kirtland Community of Christ Chapel, 9017 Chillicothe Road, Kirtland, (across from the Historic Kirtland Temple).

The family will receive friends from 10-11 AM on Saturday, prior to the service, at the Chapel. Her final resting place will be with her husband in the North Kirtland Cemetery. Following the burial there will be a reception in the Auditorium next to the Chapel.

Hazel Cox Bendfeldt, beloved wife, mom, grandma and great-grandmother was born on July 2, 1923, in Kirtland and passed away on Sunday, June 18, 2017 in Mentor.

She was a fifth-generation descendant of Waite Hill pioneers Sylvester Smith and Lucretia Lyon Smith, who moved west from New York State in the 1820’s and established with the Waite family what became Waite Hill Village. She was the last surviving grandchild of the twenty grandchildren of Civil War veteran Thomas Cox and Sylvester and Lucretia’s granddaughter Sarah Smith Cox.

The youngest of seven children of Andy Cox and Emma Burgin Cox, Hazel grew up on Maple Street in Kirtland, moving with her family to Hobart Road in Waite Hill for her high school years. Her family spent several of the winters in the 1930’s in Florida, living in New Port Richey, Eustis, and Deland.

She was one of nineteen members of the Kirtland High School Class of 1941. This Kirtland class included her cousins, Dorothy Cox and Edward Cox. The class also included Hazel’s next-door neighbor, Helmuth William Bendfeldt, whom she would marry. She had great memories of her school years, including starring roles in both the Junior and Senior Class plays. Her hobbies included embroidering, reading, and keeping photograph albums – which are an excellent record today of those years.

Hazel worked throughout the World War II years, first at Cleveland Tool and Supply in downtown Cleveland, and then at the Ohio Rubber Company in Willoughby. There she handled the accounting for a key item in the war effort, the manufacturing of tracks for tanks supplied to the United States Army. She was awarded the Army/Navy Production Award for excellence in the manufacture of war equipment.

She married Helmuth William Bendfeldt on May 11, 1946, following his return from three years in Europe in the US Army. They lived first on Maple Street, then moved to a house they built on Route 306 next to the East Branch of the Chagrin River.


They had three children, William (Bill), John (Jack), and Elizabeth (Betsy), who all graduated from Kirtland Schools. She was a room mother for each of her children during those years. Summer activities included teaching her kids to swim in the river behind their house, and working with her kids on their backyard vegetable garden.

While raising their family, she and her husband hosted a number of Cox family reunions at their Kirtland home. H. William Bendfeldt was the long-time president of Frank A. Thomas & Associates Civil Engineers and Surveyors (now CT Consultants). In that role, he and Hazel were active in planning numerous company events.

Following the passing of her husband in 1982, Hazel moved to Mentor in 1987. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Betsy, in 1993 and her brothers Bill, Art, Richard and George and her sister Helen.

Hazel was blessed with six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Today, son Bill, his wife Jan, and their children Bill Jr. and Ken live in Wickliffe. Son Jack and wife Cindy, who live in Sherborn, Massachusetts, have an older daughter Ann who lives in Tarzana, California, and a younger daughter Jane who lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. Daughter Betsy and her husband, Jerry O’Bannon (since remarried to Colleen and living in Gainesville, Florida) also had two children, daughter, Mackenzie who lives in Orlando, Florida, and Christopher who lives in Santa Ana, California. Great grandchildren are Bill Jr.’s daughter, Tommi and Ken’s children, Rebecca and Aiden.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Hazel’s name to the Hospice of the Western Reserve, Inc., 17876 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44110, or online at www.hospicewr.org/donate.

An online guestbook for Hazel’s family is open at www.davisbabcock.com. where you may leave a condolence for the family, make a donation to Hospice, light a candle, plant a tree or order flowers.