Hug Lady Dies on Christmas Eve

Elizabeth Laird doled out an estimated half-million hugs to American troops at Fort Hood, sending them off to war with a reassuring embrace and welcoming them back home with those same open arms.

Elizabeth LairdShe kept up those hugs—along the way becoming known as “the hug lady”—through a decade-long fight with the breast cancer that ultimately claimed her life on Christmas Eve at the age of 83 …