[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11648-11650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO ELAINE HAYS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Mrs. Elaine Hays, 
whose story has been chosen to be recorded as part of the London, KY 
``Living Treasures'' project.
  Born in Elkhorn City, KY, on March 19, 1924, Mrs. Hays has lived in 
and been a part of the Kentucky community her entire life, and has 
called London home since 1949. She is the granddaughter of Austrian and 
German immigrants, and even has one ancestor who was on the McCoy side 
of the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud. Growing up in the Floyd County 
community of Betsy Layne, Mrs. Hays saw firsthand the development of 
the coal mining industry, as well as the devastating effects of the 
Great Depression.
  After receiving her degree in home economics from Western Kentucky 
University, Mrs. Hays, sister to three war veterans, opened and 
subsequently ran a cannery at the Belfry High School in Betsy Layne 
where she was already working as a home economics teacher. Mrs. Hays 
wanted to help both the Nation and the families of Betsy Layne during 
the war by preserving food.
  Mrs. Hays married her husband Earl in 1947 and taught alongside him 
at Belfry High until 1949. After an extensive interview process, The 
Hayses were hired by Sue Bennett College as teachers and program 
developers. Mr. Hays was to set up and run the college's farm which 
supplied food for the college dining hall, while Mrs. Hays was to 
develop a home economics program. In later years, Mrs. Hays became a 
``first lady'' of sorts when Earl was chosen to become president of the 
college, a position he filled from 1958 to 1985. In between teaching 
and raising her two sons, Jim and Lon, Mrs. Hays still found the time 
to entertain students and other guests of the college. The eventual 
closure of Sue Bennett College was a somber day for Mrs. Hays, and her 
family alike, but its influence on their lives has been unforgettable.
  Mrs. Hays retired in 1998 after working in the education field for 55 
years. After Earl's death in 1999, her retirement has been made happier 
by her three grandchildren.
  Kentucky is lucky to have women such as Mrs. Elaine Hays who put 
aside their own needs in order to better serve their family and their 
community. It is an honor to record Mrs. Hays' story, for it is a story 
of an outstanding Kentuckian.
  The Laurel County-area newspaper the Sentinel Echo recently published 
an article detailing the life, accomplishments, and contributions of 
Mrs. Hays' life and career. I ask unanimous consent that the full 
article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

                [From the Sentinel Echo, June 22, 2011]

                   London's Living Treasures: Part 4

       The last installment of the London Treasures project is the 
     story of Mrs. Elaine Hays, who shares rich memories of her 
     mountain heritage and her life as the president's wife at Sue 
     Bennett College. Mrs. Hays is a very faceted, elegant woman 
     who has spent her life learning and teaching others.
       ``I am Elaine Hays, oldest child and only daughter of Lou 
     and Elizabeth Weber Roberts. My three brothers and I spent 
     our childhood in the coal mining areas of Pike and Floyd 
     counties. We all have a strong sense of

[[Page 11649]]

     home, our origins and a strong loyalty to family.
       I was born on March 19, 1924, in Elkhorn City, Ky., on an 
     island in the middle the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River. 
     My grandmother Ida Eiler Weber, an Austrian emigrant, ran a 
     hotel there for tourists and mining officials. She came to 
     New York City and met Thomas Edward Weber, whom she later 
     married. Tom was from Magdeburg, Germany. As he read, wrote 
     and spoke several languages, he was hired by large coal 
     companies to meet the boats at Ellis Island and hire 
     immigrants to work in the coal-fields of Ohio, Virginia, West 
     Virginia and, Kentucky. He became a mining superintendent and 
     many of the miners followed him from one place to the next; 
     Elkhorn City being the last. Mamaw, as we called my 
     grandmother, was a wonderful cook and loved to dance, 
     especially polkas and waltzes. My grandfather traveled a lot 
     and was an avid reader. He kept us supplied with books and 
     piano rolls for the player piano. My mother sang beautifully 
     and sang for audiences at the local movie theatre while they 
     were changing the old movie reels.
       My parents married in Elkhorn City in 1923. My father, Lou, 
     was the son of Ricely and Caroline Ratliff Roberts. His 
     mother died after the birth of her eleventh child, a sad fate 
     of many mountain women. Grandfather Ricely was primarily a 
     logger. He and his older sons would clear ``new ground'' and 
     raft the logs down the Big Sandy River to Catlettsburg or 
     Ashland. When I was 8 years old, I rode horseback with him to 
     visit his family. He lived in a big, two-story log house. My 
     father's great-grandmother was Cherokee and his grandmother 
     was Maryetta McCoy Roberts, of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy 
     feud.
       My dad had a great respect for women and believed they 
     should be well-educated and work for equal wages. My mother 
     owned a grocery store and eventually get into the restaurant 
     business and he supported her in those efforts.
       The first 10 years of my life there was always one, 
     sometimes two, of Dad's sisters living with us and going to 
     high school. In the mountains during the 30s, high schools 
     were only in county seat towns or larger towns. Children 
     living up creeks and hollows had to live away from home to go 
     to high school.
       We moved from Elkhorn City to Hellier, a dusty little 
     mining village. We played in polluted creeks, catching 
     minnows and crawdads. We roamed the nearby hills. We also 
     picked up every disease, including diphtheria. In Hellier, we 
     saw miners go to work before daylight and return after dark, 
     always with carbide lamps on their caps. I was impressed with 
     the big commissary owned by the coal company where miner's 
     families purchased food, clothing and household goods. My 
     mother told me we couldn't afford to trade at the company 
     store.
       We moved to Betsy Layne in Floyd County when I was in 
     seventh grade. Betsy Layne was a nice community with two 
     hollows where there was a big mine and where the miners 
     lived. It was owned by the Pittsburgh Coal Company. One 
     excellent thing that mining companies did was to support the 
     school programs. At Betsy Layne, the emphasis was music. We 
     had music every day through the eighth grade. The high school 
     had band, orchestra, girl's glee club, men's glee club and 
     various trios and quartets. Athletes all participated in the 
     glee club.
       Many evenings, our band director gathered the neighborhood 
     band members and came to our home. We played our instruments 
     and sang. Mother provided refreshments. Betsy Lane had been 
     our favorite place to live. I was greatly influenced by my 
     family's love of music and their heritage. When I was a 
     teenager, my grandmother moved to Brooklyn and I visited her 
     there in the summers in the 1930s. She took me to Radio City, 
     Statue of Liberty, Battery Park Aquarium, Metropolitan Museum 
     of Art and History and to many ethnic restaurants.
       My most formative years were in Betsy Layne. It was during 
     the Depression and there was so much unemployment. My dad 
     always had a job, but the whole family had to work to make 
     ends meet. We didn't have a car, but travel was convenient as 
     there were four passenger trains a day that stopped at Betsy 
     Lane. My brothers and dad raised a big garden and mother 
     canned and preserved food. I helped string beans and thread 
     them on a string and hung them to dry for ``shuckie'' beans. 
     We hung them to dry rather than drying them flat. We had a 
     cow and the boys cared for her and did the milking. I learned 
     early how to churn and make butter and cottage cheese. Mother 
     shared the milk from the cow with less fortunate neighbors. 
     Mother was a great cook, but didn't cook as most mountain 
     women did. She used cookbooks and measured ingredients. She 
     taught me basic cooking terms and at 12 years old, I could 
     cook a simple summer meal that would probably be green cooked 
     with new potatoes on top, slaw and cornbread. We seldom fried 
     anything. Mother broiled meat, except chicken, which she 
     fried. In November and December, the making of fruitcakes was 
     a family project. My brothers cracked and shelled pecans and 
     Mother and I cut up candied fruits. I have continued the 
     fruit cake tradition and have sent them to my brothers for 
     Christmas for over 50 years--Mother's recipe, of course. She 
     had the newest kitchen tools just as my grandmother did 
     always and served food attractively and used parsley to 
     garnish it. It was my job to set the table and make it look 
     pretty and I still enjoy doing that. My mother was a great 
     influence in choosing my college major of home economics. In 
     1982, I wrote a cookbook called ``Along the Way'' that had 
     recipes from three generations of my family and those from 
     many friends as well. The book has travelled through several 
     generations since that time.
       My brothers had lot of chores and all of us developed a 
     strong work ethic in those years. The boys would dig ginseng 
     and sell it for spending money. Though we all worked, we had 
     good play times and there was always a baseball game going 
     on. I played on the teams with the boys and we all played 
     tennis on clay courts on the high school playground that was 
     just across the street from our home.
       Dad helped us daily with our studies, checked our homework 
     and taught us what we didn't understand. It was very 
     important to him that his children did well in school and he 
     encouraged the neighborhood kids to attend school, too. In 
     fact, he bought baseball equipment and kept it with him at 
     the C&O depot where he worked. After school, the neighborhood 
     boys would go to the depot and get the bats and gloves and 
     play ball. During World War II, he received many letters from 
     those boys telling him they were glad he had encouraged them 
     to stay in school. Dad realized his dream of having college-
     educated children. I went to Western Kentucky University and 
     majored in Home Economics. Gerald graduated from Annapolis 
     Naval Academy and became a commander. Lon Edward graduated 
     from Pikeville college, University of Virginia, and 
     University of Louisville Medical School and practiced 
     medicine. Gene had three years of college and became a county 
     commissioner in Titusville Florida. My three brothers served 
     in World War II, Vietnam and the Korean War.''
       In the summer of 1940, I had just graduated from high 
     school and Earl Hays, the man who later became my husband, 
     just out of Berea College, came to Betsy Layne to teach 
     agriculture. I would see him often when I was home on 
     vacation from Western. The war years came along and he 
     enlisted in the Army. In the meantime, I graduated from 
     Western in 1943 and went to Belfry, Pike County, to teach 
     home economics.
       Belfry High School was fairly large and I taught 120 
     freshman girls. In the summer of 1944, I went to University 
     of Kentucky to learn how to operate a community cannery. I 
     didn't stay in Belfry, but went to Betsy Layne to teach home 
     economics. The ag teacher and I set up and operated a 
     community cannery. It was part of the national war effort to 
     help families preserve their own food.
       Earl came back from the Army to Betsy Layne in 1945. We 
     dated a year and a half and were married December, 1947. Earl 
     and I were very compatible and had the same values. He was 
     one of the kindest and most thoughtful men that I have ever 
     known. Our wedding was a community affair. Our students 
     decorated the small church with fresh greenery and candles. 
     Our friends gave the reception and Mother baked a gorgeous 
     wedding cake.
       We taught at Betsy Lane High School until 1949. It is 
     interesting how we came to London and Sue Bennett College. 
     Our Methodist minister was at the annual Methodist Conference 
     and met Oscie Sanders, president of Sue Bennett. She said, 
     ``Bob, I'm looking for an agriculture and home economics 
     teacher and preferably a married couple.'' He said, ``I know 
     just the couple.'' After much communication and several 
     interviews, we were employed to come here. Earl was to 
     supervise the college farm which supplied food for the 
     college dining hall and I was to set up a home economics 
     program.
       Earl was born and raised in McKee, Ky., but his mother's 
     family was from London. His grandfather, Creed Russell, had a 
     general store about where Porters store is now and his 
     grandmother, Ellen Hale Russell, named the post office at 
     Lida and was postmistress there for many years.
       In the early 1950s, we began attending University of 
     Kentucky on Saturdays and summers. Earl's emphasis of study 
     was horticulture and mine was child care and family living. 
     We received our master's degrees in 1953.
       Earl supervised the farm but gradually it and the dairy was 
     discontinued. He became dean of students, taught basic 
     horticulture classes and did public relations. I taught 
     orientation, folk dancing, and later home economics courses. 
     My favorite two courses were Marriage and Family and 
     Appalachian Sociology--which I developed. These courses were 
     the result of my taking graduate courses from UK in 
     Appalachian history and culture. I continued taking classes 
     in guidance and counseling and became certified in that 
     field.
       Our son, Jim, was born in 1954, and in 1957, our son Lon 
     was born. Both of them later attended Sue Bennett College. 
     Their background at Sue Bennett College served them well. Jim 
     became a biologist, and Lon, a psychiatrist.

[[Page 11650]]

       Earl became president in 1958 after President Oscie Sanders 
     retired. Upon his retirement in 1985, he had served in that 
     capacity longer than any other Kentucky junior college 
     president. A new president's home was built in 1960, and we 
     moved on campus.
       Unkowingly, when Earl became president, I became an 
     unofficial hostess. I enjoyed having students and visitors in 
     our home. Some of our happiest Thanksgiving dinners were when 
     foreign students were with us. We and our sons met and 
     enjoyed many interesting people.
       In 1977, I left Sue Bennett as a teacher and became the 
     first guidance counselor for adult students at Laurel County 
     State Vo-Tech. I enjoyed working with adult vocational 
     students. It was as if I had made the full cycle in 
     vocational education.
       Earl retired in 1985 and we moved to our retirement home 
     just off campus. The campus was a great place to raise our 
     sons. They enjoyed the students and college activities and I 
     appreciate the great influence Sue Bennett College had on our 
     family.
       After working in the education field for 55 years, I 
     retired in 1998. My retirement years have been made happier 
     with my three grandchildren. My oldest grandchild, Lon 
     Stuart, and his wife Alina are both attorneys. Karolyn 
     graduated from Centre College this year and he sister, 
     Kathryn, will be a sophomore at Centre this fall. London has 
     been a great place for my to continue living after my 
     retirement and Earl's death in 1999.
       Any time I'm in town, I see and chat with many former 
     students. The greatest joy from teaching is seeing former 
     students succeed. I always feel surrounded by friends.
       I am still a part of a group of friends that we met the 
     summer we came to London. Though the group has expanded and 
     decreased through the 62 years. the original ones still have 
     dinner together monthly. That's friendship.
       I think one of the saddest days for my family and Laurel 
     County was the closing of Sue Bennett College. Earl and I and 
     my sons feel privileged to have been a part of the college, 
     which played a huge role in the development of our entire 
     region.
       It has been a joy to have been acquainted with people who 
     have worked hard to improve our area. The beautification 
     efforts on Main Street and those who are working for historic 
     preservation are just the latest examples. I truly love the 
     people of London-Laurel County and have enjoyed making this 
     our home since 1949.

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