Steve Hayes and Margie Helms Hayes

Marriage Certificate

Steve Weldon Hayes was born in Monroe, Union County, May 7, 1927. 

The 1940 Monroe Census recorded 13-year-old Steve on the family farm with parents Fred and Maggie, along with siblings Grayson 21, Margaret 19, and 15-year-old Frank.

On March 25, 1948, Steve married Margie Lee Helms. Margie was born February 6, 1929 to Lawrence Helms and Willie Mae Craig.

Margie and Steve lived at the olde Hayes Homeplace until their deaths. 

Steve died May 28, 2009 and was buried in Lakeland Memorial Park. Margie passed on March 3rd, 2018. She is buried beside her beloved husband. 

Steve and Margie at the lake

Children:

• Linda Leigh Hayes was born February 3, 1950. She married Donald Wayne Taylor September 21, 1969. Son Steven Dewayne Taylor was born April 12, 1972, Union County, NC; he married Karen Boshoff, May 19, 2001, in Cary, NC.

• Cathy Anne Hayes was born February 1, 1953. She married William Sanford Godwin on August 8, 1981.

•  Susan "Susie" Hayes was born May 26, 1955. She married Victor Alan Thomas on June 8, 1991. Daughter Margaret Mae Thomas was born August 30, 1994.
  

World War II Draft Card

Steve Hayes received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Navy.  He enlisted in the military on August 15, 1945; released August 12, 1946.

Ratings: Ships Service Man, 3rd Class; Medals: Victory-World War II. Awarded Meritorial Point System; He earned 4 ratings in very short time because of "Points System Program." Stationed in: AIEA, Hawaii; He boarded navy ship in Bainbridge MD and sailed to AEEA Hawaii. This trip took about 10-14 days. Steve said he was seasick a lot. Most of his company was shipped out from Hawaii for fighting and most did not return. He was stationed on base for military duty. "This is probably the only reason he survived WWII," His daughter Linda wrote, "He is my father and the uncle of all of the Hayes descendants. Thank the good Lord!"
      When Steve arrived in Hawaii, his orders were apparently lost, so the instructor told him, and the five other guys with him, that he had four openings in ship service, and two openings in the barbershop. He asked Steve if he had any experience cutting hair. Steve replied, "Yes, he had cut the manes of horses and mules!" This apparently qualified him for barber apprentice, so he spent the next twenty months in the barbershop on base cutting hair. The barbershop was a 12-chair shop; it operated 8-5, six days a week. The men were charged 10 cents per hair cut, which all went toward paying for replacement of equipment.

Stories 
Letter from Jeanette Downs