LTC Kenneth Lee Hayden

HAYDEN, LTC Kennth Lee, 83, SIERRA VISTA, AZ, August 27, 2012. Services will be at Fort Huachuca, AZ. Arrangements are in the care of Hatfield Funeral Home, Sierra Vista, AZ.   

SIERRA VISTA, ARIZONA – LTC Kenneth Lee Hayden, US Army, retired, 83, passed away peacefully and surrounded by his family on Monday, August 27, 2012, from complications following cardiac surgery.
    Ken was born in Bonhomme Township, MO, March 14, 1929, the son of Marjorie Lee (Baker) and Robert Howe Hayden Sr. of Ashland. He attended the first three years of high school in Trenton, Ill., and graduated Belleville Township High School, Belleville, Ill., in 1946.
    Ken was drafted in 1951 and completed Basic Infantry Training, although he never saw battle before his 1956 discharge. The GI Bill allowed Ken to earn a BS in Education from Illinois State Normal University, Normal, Ill., after studying international political relations at the University of Maryland, in College Park, MD, in 1953, while on active duty.
    Ken returned to active duty in 1963 as a captain and served as Deputy for Headquarters Operations, U.S. Army General Depot Complex, Ingrandes and Poitiers, France. Afterward, he enjoyed a variety of posts with tours in Saigon, Vietnam; Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Camp Humphries, Korea; Washington, D.C.; Okinawa, Japan; and a second tour at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
    After retiring, Ken “double dipped,” working another 10 years for the Army as a civilian. During that time, Ken met and married his soulmate, Carmen Odilia Chanis, to whom he was married for an adventure-filled 22 years. While Sierra Vista, Ariz., was home, the couple lived in Panama for a total of 12 years and took many pleasure trips from their home base on the isthmus. Ken delighted in watching the turnover ceremonies for every American institution to the Panamanian government in the years leading up to the 1999 turnover of the Panama Canal. He also enjoyed traveling, reading, writing, painting and drawing.
    Ken crusaded for the establishment of a National Battlefield Monument in Presque Isle (formerly Maysville) for the Arnold’s Cow Incident/Aroostook Riot, a long-forgotten border skirmish between the Americans and the British in 1827. He grew up listening to his father’s stories of potato picking and growing up in Ashland and the beautiful Maine woods. He traveled to Aroostook County for the first time in 2010 with his daughters Jane and Sara and later with his wife Carmen. He was thrilled to see the world of which his father so fondly spoke. He was particularly excited to eat a Maine potato. He declared they were the best in the world and began brainstorming how to market the Maine potato to the rest of the world. In August of that year, Ken had a headstone placed at the grave of his great grandparents, John Rafford and Olive Beckwith Rafford, in Fairfield Cemetery. The original headstone may have been lost, destroyed or perhaps never existed at all. He was very happy to have met long lost relatives and enjoyed everyone he met in Aroostook County.
    LTC Hayden was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star Medal, among other distinctions. He was honored to have served his country.
    Ken is survived by his wife of 22 years, Carmen Odilia Chanis of Sierra Vista; his daughter, Jane Lee (Hayden) Claunch and her husband, Darrel of Sierra Vista; his son, Kenneth Rowland Hayden of Los Lunas, NM; his daughter, Sara Rafford Hayden of Half Moon Bay, CA, and Sierra Vista; his stepson, John Carver of Golden, CO; his stepdaughter, Teresa (Carver) Strohl and her husband, Richard of Tucson; his stepdaughter, Carmen (Carver) Olsen and her husband, Ralph of Gilbert; grandson, Jeremy Olsen and daughter-in-law, Holly (Openshaw) Olsen; great grandson, Caleb Olsen of Gilbert; his grandson, Brett Olsen of Gilbert; his brother, Robert Hayden Jr. of Florida; and his beloved pet, Pancho.
    He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Marjorie; his brothers, Jerry and Leslie; and his sister, Jean (Hayden) Durbin.
    Services will be at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Flowers may be sent to Hatfield Funeral Home, 830 S. Highway 92, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635.