LV resident moving up in Legion Auxiliary ranks

Monday, Nov. 3, 1997 | 10:52 a.m.

When Hazel Lockhart first got involved in American Legion Auxiliary activities more than a quarter of a century ago, she never could have envisioned just how far she would go.

"When I joined in 1971, I didn't know there was anything beyond the unit," said Lockhart, a 34-year Las Vegas resident. "It became my second full-time job. Even though I am now retired, I still put in about 20 hours a week."

Lockhart's hard work paid off last month when she became the Western Division National Vice President of the American Legion Auxiliary. She's one of five No. 3-ranked individuals in the organization that numbers 1 million members.

Lockhart, who with her late husband, James Lockhart, founded Post 14 in 1983, has marched up through the ranks. She was unit president in 1974-75 and in '83, district president in 1977-78 and department president in 1981-82.

Her recent election victory over a Laughlin woman at the national convention in Orlando, Fla., marks the second time Lockhart has won a national Legion Auxiliary post.

She recently finished serving as Le Demi Chapeau (French for "the half hat," a national vice presidency) for the 8/40, the American Legion Auxiliary's honor society.

It also marks the second time this year that a local woman has been appointed to a national veterans auxiliary post. In September, Gail Cihlar of Indian Springs became the first Nevada woman in 16 years to be named to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary National Council, a two-year position.

Lockhart, a retired accountant, will serve one year in her position, where she will visit the 10 states in the western region, including Alaska and Hawaii.

"One of my goals is to get National Family Week established in Nevada," Lockhart said of the event that is celebrated the week of Thanksgiving.

"There has been a breakdown in the family unit, a decline in morals and a rise in crime that needs to be addressed. Our theme for this year is the American Legion family working together."

American Legion Auxiliary members spend a lot of time pushing for membership and raising money for charitable causes.

"We need to convince more war veterans who are still in the military that they don't have to wait until they leave the service to become American Legion members," Lockhart said.

"We need to get veterans like those from Grenada and the Persian Gulf to join in greater numbers. And we need to get more members to sign up while they are stationed at places like Nellis Air Force Base."

Feeding the hungry is one of the auxiliary's charitable causes. To that end, the organization is attempting to raise a huge sum to present to the National Football League for its charities during halftime at the Super Bowl in January.

Other auxiliary causes include child welfare, scholarships, battered and abused women and assistance for the elderly and homeless. The auxiliary also is supporting a U.S. flag protection amendment that has faltered in Congress in recent years because of conflicts with First Amendment protections.

Auxiliary members also do volunteer work in veterans hospitals and clinics.

Lockhart has seen her share of successes and failures during her years of Legion service.

For several years in the early 1990s, she worked hard to establish a permanent home for the Legion post that bears her family's name. An attempt to acquire federal land on Sunrise Mountain for the site of Post 14 had to be abandoned because she could not raise the $70,000 needed to cover construction costs.

Post 14 today meets regularly at the Jaycee Mobile Home Park clubhouse. During its history, the post also conducted business in the Sunrise Manor Town Hall and at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10047.

When Hazel and James Lockhart, a Korean War veteran who served at Nellis Air Force Base in the 1950s, founded the post 14 years ago, they named it for James' father, Lawrence Lockhart, a decorated World War I veteran.

When James Lockhart died in 1988, Hazel kept on working diligently for the post's auxiliary, which today has about 320 members. That is an impressive number considering that Post 14 has only about 50 war veteran members.