HAZEL Dalley was working in her Montego Bay variety store one day in the late 1960s when she noticed a car illegally parked outside the door.

In an area that was ? and still is ? frequented mostly by foreigners, this breach of custom was not entirely out of the ordinary.

The man who soon returned apologetically was, however, not a tourist at all. He was the Bermuda Regiment's legendary Major Henry (Bubbles) Burnard, who was in Jamaica with the first of the now annual Regiment training exercises in the island.

From this chance encounter grew an unlikely friendship. It wasn't long before a visit to Dalley's Variety Store became a tradition for Bermudian soldiers on their manoeuvres in Jamaica.

In a profession that demands strength and rewards courage, many soldiers turn tender when they speak of Ms Dalley. None has an ill word to say of her.

In recognition of this longstanding friendship with Bermuda's soldiers, Ms Dalley was a special guest at last month's Changing of Command Ceremony when she was present as her friend Lt. Col. Eddy Lamb ended his 26-year career in the Regiment.

While on the island she met Premier Alex Scott, who presented her with a commemorative gombey coin on behalf of Government for her many years of service to Bermuda's soldiers.

Ms Dalley cannot remember the exact year she first came across the Regiment, but her sentiments for the Bermudians are immediately apparent:

"I've known the Bermudian Regiment from the very first time they came to Jamaica long years ago," Ms Dalley told the this week. "Soon I began to put the Bermudian and Jamaican flags outside the store every time they came," said the woman known affectionately to all as Auntie Haze. "They would come to my store and I'd give them discounts and a drink. The relationship grew as I became nicer and nicer!"

It is this unfailing sense of charity that has earned her legions of admirers in both Bermuda and her native Jamaica. In an often gruelling, male-dominated setting this lone maternal figure is recalled by most with genuine affection and, in the case of former Regiment Commanding Officer Gavin Shorto, sincere gratitude.

"She helped me many times with Jamaican authorities," recalled Mr. Shorto. "She was most helpful in getting out of many difficulties."

Her moral and material support of the Regiment has earned her the appreciation of Regiment COs for more than three decades ? almost all of whom she has considered friends. Major Glenn Brangman, who first met Ms Dalley in the early 1980s, remembers her generosity towards the visiting soldiers.

"She was enormously helpful in the early days. Her store actually became our headquarters down there, it was an unofficial Bermudian embassy. If you were in the Montego Bay area and from Bermuda, that was the place to go. She always looked out for the Bermudians."

It is an opinion shared by Major Wayne Smith, the Regiment's current public relations officer, who met Ms Dalley during his own first deployment to Jamaica's north coast.

"She is a dear friend to Bermuda," said Major Smith. "She has housed people at her own expense and looked after all our needs. She's our mother while we're down there, and I think it's quite comforting for our families back home that we have her."

The attention and respect she commands from the men would rival the most feared of officers. But it's her warmth she is remembered for. Hardly anyone who came under her care did not eventually consider her their surrogate mother. Her connections in the Jamaican Constabulary have also rescued a few wayward soldiers tempted by the more devious attractions of life in Jamaica.

"I took care of them and if they got into trouble I told them to report to me so I can assist them. Sometimes they drink a little bit and get a little bit tipsy!"

Last month, Ms Dalley finally received her due. After enjoying 30 years of her hospitality, the Regiment invited her to Bermuda. She was welcomed on a red carpet.

"I enjoyed Bermuda so much. I wish in Jamaica we could have freedom like that. I have to commend Bermuda because it's a very safe place. I was going into Marks & Spencer (in Hamilton), and my friend Sgt. (Leon) Tacklyn was driving me. I forgot my purse in the car and I said, 'Lord have mercy!' And Tacklyn told me this is not Jamaica, this is Bermuda. It's safe, don't worry!"

Next year, she says, when Col. William White leads the Bermudian contingent to Jamaica she will be at the airport to greet them with a Bermudian flag in hand ? as she has done for more than 30 years.

But the exceeding kindness she shows towards her Bermudian friends has not gone unnoticed among her Jamaican admirers.

"Somebody asked me if the Jamaican Constabulary was jealous because I'm their mother so how come I'm being mother for the Bermuda Regiment," she says with a laugh. "Well, I told them, they'll just have to share."

Ms Dalley was born in Paisley, Jamaica. While she is not tending to visiting Bermudian soldiers, the variety store she opened in 1965 caters to the tourists who flock to Montego Bay.

A noted humanitarian, she has been awarded numerous accolades in Jamaica for her volunteer work as well as her tireless advocacy for causes such as the development of the city of Montego Bay and programmes that benefit the area's youth.

She is a senior Justice of the Peace and a beloved figure within the island nation's constabulary. Indeed, she founded the St. James Police Football Competition in which police personnel from several divisions competed for the Hazel Dalley Trophy.

Last year, she received the prestigious Governor General's Order of Distinction from Sir Howard Cooke.