Imogene Leila Hayes

After a brief illness, Imogene Hayes passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 2, 2024.Though well into her 95th year, her family and friends were taken by surprise, fully expecting thatcher tenacity of both body and spirit would take her to 100 and beyond. Known by many names throughout her life--Imogene, Imo, Leila, Gene, Genie, Mom, Grandmommy, GiGi, Dyn-Imo--the name that she herself valued the most was her surname which she acquired at the age of 21 upon her marriage to Hugh Hayes, who has been waiting for her since 2013. She leaves behind a myriad of others whom she also fully loved: her children Hugh Hayes, III; Heather Stancil (Jim); Johanna Yale; Marcus Hayes (Meg). Also, her grandchildren: Hannah Hayes, Sarah Reymann,Will and Benn Stancil, Marc Hayes (Bri), Parker Hayes, and Caroline Martineau (Joe), Imogene Cancellare (Mark), Zachary and Davis Hayes. And four great-grandchildren: Margot, Greta,Linea, and Everette. In addition to Hugh, she was pre-deceased by her son, Tim Hayes in 2021, son-in-law, Richard Yale in 2020, and her sister, Wanda, in 2003. 

Born on December 30, 1929, the oldest child of the late James Furman Hall and Ellie MaeEvens, Imogene was soon followed by siblings, Juanita, Jimmy, and Wanda. Born and raised in the Great Depression, she was used to making do with little and accepted the necessity of her family’s frequent separations when money was particularly tight. (For a time, she lived andtraveled with two eccentric aunts who worked for a circus—a fact that would delight her futuregrandchildren).  After graduating from Little Rock High School in 1947, Imogene went to Memphis State College and Baptist Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. At nineteen, she walked into a Memphis coffee shop and met a tall, handsome UT med student; evidence that she was immediately smitten can be found in her medical textbooks where studious margin notes become supplanted by his initials and variations of a possible future married name. She graduated with a R.N. degree in December 1950, and on June 8, 1951, her prescient scribbling proved true: she and Hugh Hayes were married, leaving immediately afterwards for an adventurous cross-country drive and six-week honeymoon in Mexico. Returning to the small and impoverished coal-mining town of Wallins Creek, Kentucky, Hugh set up a general medical practice. As the beautiful, red-headed wife and nurse of the town’s only doctor, Imogene was the focus of intense curiosity and affection. She quickly learned to be circumspect about casual conversations with patients lest mention of a particular fondness for something might mean coming home to a front porch laden with apple pies or crocks of homemade sauerkraut. After their son Hugh was born in 1952, they exchanged the harsh Kentucky mountains for the lushness of Honolulu; Hugh took an internship at Queens Hospital, and Imogene worked as a nurse at Kapi’olani Maternity Hospital. Hawaii was a magical place for the young couple: exotic food and drinks, backyard trees full of avocados, mangos, and limes, stunning landscapes. They planned to stay in this veritable garden of Eden indefinitely, but getting the news from Hugh’s mother that her death was near and that she needed a trusted doctor’s care, they dutifully moved back to the mainland. When reports of her impending death proved to be greatly exaggerated (she would “linger” for another 15 years), they moved to Baltimore, where Hugh completed a radiology residency at Johns Hopkins. By 1961, the family (larger by four more children) had settled in Charlotte, where they lived until 1998, when they made their last move to live on the Catawba River in Belmont, NC. 

During all of these years, even as Imogene handled the daunting tasks of raising five children and care-giving for her parents, she devoted her indefatigable energy and countless hours to serving a multitude of community organizations: hospitals and schools for which she volunteered as a nurse, the Healthy Charlotte Alliance (formerly the Mecklenburg Medical Society Alliance), the Opera Guild, The Mint Museum of Art, just to list a few. She held many leadership positions at both county and state levels in these organizations, and over the years, received multiple awards for her contributions to education, health and the arts. In 2007, Healthy Charlotte Alliance established the Genie Hayes Distinguished Service Award, named for and first presented to “Genie Hayes to honor her strong leadership and her selfless investment of time and talents” to state and county health initiatives. Her license plate described her aptly: Dyn-Imo. Most importantly, over all the years of invaluable contribution to the community, she remained someone whom family and friends could count on, always there for them in times of need and in moments of celebration. 

Imogene’s early upbringing contributed to her life-long desire to make each home she inhabited beautiful, comfortable, and welcoming. Her final house on the river was no exception, and it was here that she and Hugh spent their last fifteen years together, hosting weddings, oyster roasts,and enjoying their massive back porch overlooking the water and gardens. Two years after Hugh died in 2013, Imogene had a stroke that made independent living impossible. Moving to assisted living from the last home she had shared with her husband was the hardest thing she had ever done. She missed her house and him terribly, but never complained, and after the worst effects of the stroke abated, her natural tenacity for life asserted itself again. Always resilient, she continued to be interested in all around her, keeping abreast of current events and sports,attending family weddings, holidays, and birthday gatherings. She enjoyed and was grateful for family and friends who drove her to lunches, book clubs, and parties, and who, when she could no longer get out easily, lifted her spirits with unannounced visits, gifts, and support. 

Imogene was a study in contrasts. She was a talented cook who could easily serve multi-course meals that might start with an Oyster Bisque, followed by Beef Tyrolean (her special invention),and finish up with a towering French croquem bouche. The very next day, she might whip up plainer, but no less delicious fare: hearty bean soup served with her buttery, crisp cornbread which will never be duplicated. She enjoyed hosting elegant, candlelit soirées for friends, but also loved holding holiday parties for her grandchildren, including Halloween celebrations complete with haunted rooms, peeled grape “eyeballs,” and spaghetti “guts.” She traveled the world, staying in 4-star hotels, but was equally delighted camping on Capers, an uninhabited island off the coast of SC, where she and Hugh would skinny dip in the ocean, night AND day. She took her five children on camping trips to Canada and Florida, and after frying fish for them on a camper stove, would break out silver goblets that she had brought along so that she and Hugh could enjoy a tranquil moment over a gin & tonic. She loved the gentler poems of Emily Dickinson and a cut-throat game of Uno with the grandchildren. She loved attending the opera and binge-watching “Dancing with the Stars.” She loved chocolate and champagne. And hotdogs, peanut butter, and cheap fruit-cake. 

On their 50th wedding anniversary, Hugh wrote that “Fate has smiled on us. We should be and are very grateful”. Now, in this time of sorrow, fate has again smiled on our family: The day after Imogene’s gentle passing, her granddaughter and namesake, who had long been trying and who at times had lost hope of the possibility, discovered she was pregnant with her first child. Our family is comforted by the symmetry of this moment which not only reminds us of Imogene's life-long optimism and resilience, but also serves as a powerful reminder of an undeniable truth: life does indeed go on. By whatever name we were lucky enough to call her, we should be and are very grateful for Imogene Hayes's long, beautiful, well-lived life. We will love you--a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck--forever. 

Memorials can be made to North Carolina Medical Alliance Society/Health Education Opportunity Fund at https://www.ncmsalliance.org/Donate, or to Healthy Charlotte Alliance at https://www.healthycharlottealliance.org/.