Calling(s)

Saturday, November 13, 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Young Family Funeral Home - Kendallville Chapel

Service

Saturday, November 13, 12:30 PM Young Family Funeral Home - Kendallville Chapel

Obituary

Virginia (Ginny) Lehman Hayes, age 87, of Kendallville passed away on Saturday, November 6, 2021 at her home in Kendallville.

Virginia was born on October 9, 1934 in Ashtabula, Ohio to Menno I. and Helen (Cleveland) Lehman. She married Joseph B. Hayes on November 30, 1957 in Berne, Indiana.

A graduate of Berne-French Township High School, Berne, Indiana and Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, she taught home economics in Rochester, NY and Portland, IN. She trained as a swim instructor as a staff member at Chester YWCA in Chester, PA. After the family relocated to Kendallville, IN, she continued swim instruction at Bixler Lake. When the Cole Center YMCA of Kendallville opened, she served as the Aquatic Director and the Executive Director. Her most loved job was teaching swimming to community members aged 6 months to 88 years.

Mrs. Hayes was also the Assistant General Manager of the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park. As the Special Events Coordinator for the Indiana State Park Inns, she ran the Elderhostel/Road Scholar and the Road Rally programs.

A member of The Indiana Descendants of the Mayflower, she served on the Executive Committee as Board Secretary. She was currently a member of the Pokagon Chapter of DAR, the Indiana Descendants of the Mayflower Society, Soule Kindred (George Soule, Pilgrim), Quest Club and Trinity Church United Methodist.

Virginia enjoyed traveling and planning reunions for her high school classmates, Elderhostel and family. She has also written histories for her family members, including her husband, her Descendant of the Mayflower mother, and Swiss ancestry father, grandfather and great grandfather in Berne, IN.

She is survived by two daughters, Susan (Christopher) Courter of Fairfield, OH, and Judith (Craig) Huss of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA; four grandchildren, Jeremy (Tasha) Courter, Joshua (Dora) Courter, Keila Huss and Henry Huss; and four great-grandchildren, Ben Courter, Jack Courter, Juno Courter and Mace Menno Courter. She is also survived by a niece and two nephews and their families.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Joseph in 2015, a son, Robert in 1987 and a sister, Barbara Lehman Henderson in 2012.

Services will be held Saturday, November 13, 2021, at 12:30 p.m. at Young Family Funeral Home, Kendallville Chapel, 222 South State Street, Kendallville, officiated by her long-time friend, Regan Ford. Burial will follow at 3 p.m. at MRE Cemetery in Berne.

Visitation is Saturday one hour prior to the service.

Memorials may be made to the Cole Center Family YMCA Scholarship Fund for senior citizen programming/membership.

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