Legendary grandmother who committed life to hugging soldiers dies

She was known simply as the "hug lady" and for a generation of soldiers deployed from Fort Hood to Iraq and Afghanistan, the diminutive grandmother was a steadying presence over the past 12 years.

Elizabeth Laird doled out hundreds of thousands of hugs, embracing soldiers as they shipped off and then greeting them in kind when they arrived back home. She made her hugs available at all hours of the day, regardless of the weather, becoming a military legend along the way.

"This is my way of thanking them for what they do for our country," Laird told FoxNews.com last month. "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."

For much of that time Laird was quietly waging a battle of her own against breast cancer, as The Washington Post's Colby Itkowitz reported after Laird was hospitalized in early November.

On Thursday, Laird succumbed to her illness, passing away at Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, Texas, according to Fox News.

She was 83.

Col. Christopher C. Garver, a military spokesman, released a the following statement on Laird's passing:

"On behalf of the Soldiers, Airmen, Civilians, and Families of III Corps and Fort Hood, I want to extend our sincere condolences to the family of Mrs. Elizabeth Laird, known throughout Central Texas as "The Hug Lady." She has long been associated with Fort Hood for her dedication, support, and genuine care for our Soldiers, Families and Civilian employees. For more than a decade, she has been personally saying farewell to our troops as they deploy and greeting them as they return. It is with heavy hearts that we express our gratitude for Elizabeth, not only for her service with the U.S. Air Force, but also in recognition of her tireless efforts to show her appreciation for our Soldiers and her recognition of their many sacrifices. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones; she will be deeply missed.

In a 2011 profile of Laird, the Fort Hood Sentinel referred to her as "a bit of a celebrity to the soldiers."

She told the paper that she considered the military her extended family and recounted being invited to a Thanksgiving meal at a Fort Hood dining facility:

"I looked around at all the soldiers sitting there, and I told Ray, you know, this is my family," Laird told the Sentinel. "They are so wonderful, and I just feel like a part of them belongs to me, and I hope I belong to them."

Laird's hospitalization didn't cut her off from the soldiers she loved. Her son, Richard Dewees, told The Post that dozens of soldiers visited his mother during her hospital stay to offer their encouragement.

Her legacy lives on in a GoFundMe page set up by Dewees to help pay for Laird's medical bills. The page raised almost $95,000 from more than 3,000 people over the past month, or about $85,000 more than family members originally asked for.

In the page's description, Dewees estimates that his mother hugged close to 500,000 troops.

The fundraising site is full of posts from soldiers who donated money to Laird and shared memories of brief, but memorable encounters with her.

"You were there when I left in 2008 for Iraq and then again when I returned in 2009," Michael Singleton wrote. "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."

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

"My husband had the blessing of being hugged 4 times in and out of Fort Hood and myself and our kiddos once," Amy Schaefer wrote. "She is an amazingly beautiful lady, inside and out. Her spirit made me smile and her sense of humor awesome! She will be in our thoughts and prayers!"

Asked by the Sentinel what prompted her to start offering hugs, her answer was straightforward: "I volunteered," she said.

The paper noted that Laird had volunteered before, joining the Air Force when she was 18.

"I grew up in World War II, and I wanted to do something for my country," she told the Sentinel.

"It was a different time back then," she added. "Your movie stars went to war and they were out on the front lines. It was a very different atmosphere."