Barbara Hendrick Hayden – Remembered

HAYDEN, Barbara Hendrick

Pasadena civic and community leader Barbara H. Hayden passed away May 23 shortly after celebrating her 101st birthday on Mothers’ Day with family and friends at Villa Gardens Retirement Community.

Mrs. Hayden was the daughter of a pioneering Azusa orange rancher and attended both Occidental College and Stanford University before becoming a high school teacher. Following her marriage to the late Willard Hayden and the birth of three children, she entered a lifetime of volunteer work in Pasadena and beyond. It began with neighborhood activities with the Linda Vistans and a life-long affiliation with the Neighborhood Unitarian-Universalist Church in Pasadena.

After serving two years as president of the Pasadena League of Women Voters, Mrs. Hayden served as the League’s state vice president and as a member of its board of directors. She was a member of the Founders’ Circle for the Pasadena Museum of History, where she also participated as a docent for many years. She and her good friend Jae Carmichael were founding members of the Pacific Asia Museum. With her husband, Mrs. Hayden was an active member of the Pasadena Sister City Program, traveling to cities in Japan, Armenia and Finland on its behalf. She was a lifetime member of P.E.O.

Mrs. Hayden also served on the Los Angeles County Grand Jury and as a member of Pasadena’s Urban Renewal Advisory Committee. Until weeks before her 100th birthday, she volunteered as a tutor at Pasadena’s Jefferson Elementary School.

She is survived by daughters Patricia Weismann of Pasadena, Carol Chell of Gualala and son John Willard (Bill) Hayden of Salem, Oregon; granddaughters Kristin Hayden and Carrie Byun of San Francisco, Robin Bright of Napa, and grandson Alex Hayden of San Juan Capistrano; and great-grandchildren Emily and Tessa Bright, Caroline Hayden, Charles Jimenez; and Dylan Byun.

A celebration of life is scheduled for the Neighborhood Church, 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 20. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that
donations be made to Occidental College or the Neighborhood Church.
Published in Pasadena Star-News from June 6 to June 7, 2015