Charles, Beatrice and Marion Hayes in October 1914
13 year old Charles Preston Hayes, Sr., sister Beatrice
and brother Marion, October 1914
Charles Preston Hayes
My father, Charles Preston Hayes, Sr. was born in Ludington, Michigan, the eldest of 5 children. Three were brothers: Rockwell, Melville and Marion and one was sister Beatrice.
They were the children of George Albert Hayes and Nora Belle Fitch. The children enjoyed spending summers with their grandfather John Fitch at his apple orchard.
Charles would walk to the Methodist church early on Sunday mornings to start the furnace by shovelling coal. Then during the service, his job was to pump the pipe organ during the hymns by stepping up and down on paddles attached to large bellows.
He worked his way through the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in a number of jobs, including one as foreman at the Pontiac plant. Frugal by nature, he was shocked by the wasted nuts and bolts which, once dropped on the floor, would be swept into the trash. His solution: tie a magnet on a cord and drag it behind the shop carts. Management rewarded him for the suggestion.
Ancient luggage tag showing the Ludington address
With a degree in engineering, Charles was offered a job with Shell Oil in Venezuela. Having just purchased a Buick, he inquired whether the new employers would ship his car there, and they said yes. However, once he arrived in Venezuela, he found that the roads were not paved, and the big heavy Buick becamed bogged down in the mud.
Married, with his first son on the way, Venezuela seemed to be a bad choice for a place to start a family. He soon landed a teaching position at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he became full professor and taught for the rest of his career.
Charles and wife Harriet brought four children into this world: Charles Preston Jr., Jonathan, Susilee and Fletcher Paul.
– Fletcher Hayes