Rancho Palos Verdes novelist finds resolution to father’s suicide
Author Mary Jo Hazard in her Rancho Palos Verdes backyard. Photos by Ute Reckhorn Sitting at her cherry wood desk strewn with papers, pictures and notes in her office, which she describes as her refuge, tears streamed down Mary Jo Hazard’s face as she wrote the ending of her first novel “Stillwater.” Hazard wanted to write a book that would help people better understand individuals who struggle with mental illness. While writing the coming of age book, she came to understand her own father who had experienced severe depression and took his own life. A three-time children’s author, a retired family counselor and a well-known community leader, Hazard knew in her head that her father, William Dellinger, did not kill himself because he did not love her enough. But finally, decades later, through writing “Stillwater,” she knew this in her heart. The novel is set in Hazard’s hometown of Stillwater, near Albany, New York. Her book traces the journey of a girl coming to terms with her father’s suicide. “Growing up with a father who was bi-polar, I was aware at a very young age of things that those who don’t grow up like that aren’t. Things were always a little bit heavier for me,” Hazard…
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