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Fort Hood ‘Hug Lady’ Dies At The Age Of 83 — Hugged Thousands Of Soldiers

By Mandy Robinson
Published on: 17:00 PST, Dec 24, 2015

The woman known as the Fort Hood “Hug Lady” has died at the age of 83. This woman did an amazing service to troops and has hugged thousands of brave men and women in her lifetime. Fox News shared that she has now passed away at the age of 83. As soldiers would ship out for Iraq and Afghanistan or were coming back home, the “Hug Lady” would be there to pass on a hug to them at the airport. Elizabeth Laird died at Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, Texas, after she was hospitalized in November due to her deteriorating health following her breast cancer diagnosis. She spent about a month in the hospital before the “Hug Lady” passed away.

It didn’t matter what was going on, the “Hug Lady” would be at the airport near Fort Hood to give hugs to the soldiers. Laird loved doing this, and before her death shared the reasons why.

“This is my way of thanking them for what they do for our country. I wasn’t hugging in 2003. I used to just shake their hands. But one day, a soldier hugged me, and that’s the way it started.”

When the “Hug Lady” got ill, soldiers actually set up a GoFundMe account for her to help with medical bills. They were able to raise $95,000 to help out and repay her for the kindness she had known them over the years. There were soldiers sharing their memories of her along with their donation and it turned out to be a great tribute to the Fort Hood “Hug Lady.” Over 3,000 different people gave money to help her.

Here is what Michael Singleton said about her in a comment.

“You were there when I left in 2008 for Iraq and then again when I returned in 2009. I was nervous because I had never been outside of the country and just lost my Grandmother that one hug made a huge difference that year, because it reminded me how my grandmother was.”

Another great post came from Claudia Vaneza Mohead, who had a great experience with the “Hug Lady.”

“I love her, I deployed teary eyed and scared (secretly) worried my almost two year old daughter would forget me, she whispered in my ear that everything would be ok, it meant the world to me. I wish I had millions to give her.”

The son of the “Hug Lady” gave updates on the post about how she was doing. He also shared that he had been working with his mom at the airport as well. Just 17 days ago was the latest update.

“The Hug Lady, (my mom) is now at Rosewood nursing and rehab, next to Seaton Hospital in Harker Heights. Her voice is getting stronger, but she needs to learn to walk again. We are hoping rehab will help her obtain this goal.”

There is a lot of talk in the comments about how soldiers believe that the deployment center or something similar should be named after the “Hug Lady.” They want something to happen that will help her to live on and it will be interesting to see if Fort Hood will end up finding a way to do this that will make everyone happy.

At this time, the funeral for the Fort Hood “Hug Lady” Elizabeth Laird has not been set up yet. A funeral service is pending with Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home of Copperas Cove at this time. If you have been touched by the “Hug Lady” in your life, please sound off in the comments below and tell your story.

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