Joseph M. Hayse Jr. ’58

Joseph M. Hayse Jr. ’58, Ph.D., died in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 12. Joe was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a Deke at Dartmouth. At the end of sophomore year he enlisted in the Army, was trained in French and German, and deployed to Europe as an Army translator. He later completed his bachelor’s at Kentucky Wesleyan College, plus a master’s and Ph.D. in comparative literature at University of Wisconsin–Madison. He returned to Kentucky in 1971 to teach at the University of Kentucky and later worked for the Kentucky Department of Transportation. Joe and a friend battled tirelessly to improve funding for the Lexington public library system, which resulted in the construction of a new library tower on Main Street and the opening of many new branches. Joe was a long-time member of the Lexington Musical Theater and sang in a church choir. He was an avid swimmer, winning numerous medals in the National Senior Olympics in San Francisco and Houston. He is remembered in Lexington as “always modest and self-deprecating [and] lived a full, accomplished, and good life.” Joe is survived by his wife, Heidi (whom he met in Germany while in the Army), one daughter, and three sons, including Michael ’84.