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Julia Fair Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Harold Hayes, 96, lived through the Great Depression, enlisted in the Navy during World War II and loved to watch his children play sports.

On April 2, Hayes died from COVID-19, the highly contagious upper respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to his obituary. He loved coffee ice cream from Schneider’s Homemade Candies in Bellevue, his daughter-in-law’s homemade triple berry cobbler and routinely exercised well into his 90s.

As of Thursday, 18 people in Northern Kentucky had died from COVID-19, according to the Northern Kentucky Health Department.

“He did a good job of having a balanced life,” Hayes’ 64-year-old son Ken Hayes told The Enquirer.

Harold grew up in Boston. In the 1600s, his family immigrated to the United States from Scotland and built a house in Dover, New Hampshire. Ken used to visit that house when he was a kid, he said.

Living through the Great Depression had a lasting impact on his dad, Ken said.

Harold’s dad lost a year’s worth of salary from his savings during that era. Harold’s motivation to own a car and a house for his family stemmed from the fact that his parents couldn’t afford either, Ken said.

As he worked to earn a degree at college to fulfill that goal, World War II interrupted his studies. Harold enlisted in the Navy and trained to be on an underwater demolition team. This was before the scuba tank was invented in 1942, Ken explained.

So Harold conditioned himself to be able to swim up to a concrete barrier, place a stick of dynamite near it and swim fast enough away from the pending explosion back to the boat.

Then, a hernia prevented Harold from using that skill in battle, Ken said.

Harold never expressed it, but Ken felt his dad’s time in the Navy cut short

Harold Hayes in his Navy uniform in 1944. KEN HAYES/PROVIDED

was one of his disappointments.

“He was a patriot, he wanted to do his patriotic duty,” Ken said. “That was the attitude of his generation.”

Harold went back to school and earned his degree. Soon after graduating, he met his wife, Elizabeth. They married when Harold was 27 and Elizabeth was 25. They were proud of their marriage that spanned seven decades, Ken said.

Together, Harold and Elizabeth had four kids and got to meet their greatgrandkids as well.

“Dad was an unusual dad,” Ken said.

Harold played football in the backyard and basketball in the front yard with them, Ken remembered. Harold always jogged even when the other dads didn’t, Ken said.

“People used to say ‘who’s the old man jogging around the track’,” Ken said. When Ken graduated from college, he joined his dad on occasional jogs.

Harold took the kids camping in ipstate New York, where he and Elizabeth started to raise their family. Once, Ken remembers, they camped out at the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Four generations of Hayes' men pose for a photo. From the left, Harold Hayes, Steve Hayes, Ken Hayes and Mason Hayes in his dad's arms. PROVIDED | KEN HAYES

Eventually, Harold moved his family to Louisville when his job with General Electric was transferred.

One of Ken’s brothers was still in college in New York, where he played freshman year football. Harold once drove over 12 hours to watch his son play football there, Ken said.

Ken moved his parents to Northern Kentucky as they got older. In 2013, they moved into the St. Charles Community nursing home in Fort Wright.

Ken’s mom, Elizabeth, still lives at the nursing home. The family had creative plans to celebrate her 95th birthday on April 19. They won’t be able to visit her in person due to COVID-19 visitor restriction, but Ken said they hoped to see her through a window.

“They had a lot of pride in the fact that they raised a good family,” Ken said.

Editor’s note: Information included reflects this article’s original publication date – April 17.

Julia is the Northern Kentucky government reporter through the Report For America program.Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at jfair@enquirer.com and follow her on twitter at @JFair_Reports.

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