LOCALS The Hayes sisters, reunited.
FAMILY ties All in their 90s, the Hayes sisters rarely spent a week apart — until last year by KATHERINE SNOW SMITH photography by SAMANTHA EVERETTE
O
ver nine decades, the Hayes sisters have rarely gone more than a week without seeing each other. Then the pandemic kept them apart for almost a year. The twins, Alean Chavis and Kathleen Stephenson, are 99. Alease Bobo, the only one who has left Raleigh (for a move to Durham), is 95. Mattie Grissom is 92. Dallie Davis, the baby, is only 91. They have outlived their husbands and
two brothers, John and James. (“Because women have got more sense than men. We understand things better,” Mattie says.) Another sister, Halsie, died at 32 from an illness. Along with their siblings’ offspring, they collectively have 39 children, 76 grandchildren, 98 greatgrandchildren, and, so far, 47 great-great grandchildren. And when they gather in person — whether it’s been days or, more recently, a year since they’ve seen each other, they
fall into their same family patterns: Kathleen and Alean sit next to each other, as they have at most every family gathering for almost a century. Mattie talks the most. Alease is very matter-of-fact. Dallie has mischief in her eyes. While they talked at Mattie’s house recently, the sisters reflected on changes they’ve seen over nine decades in Raleigh. Mattie moved to Creedmoor Road 55 years ago, when it was just two narrow lanes. Now it’s six lanes in some parts The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 29
