Mary Ellen Hayden

Mary Ellen Hayden (92), Irish farm girl, immigrant, beautiful bride, faithful wife, loving mother, homemaker and doting grandmother, Rest in Peace. Mary grew up on a small farm in Sarnaught, County Mayo, Ireland and where her work ethic, sense of humor, family pride, toughness, and iron clad Catholic faith were forged. Her parents were Michael Ruane and Mary (McHale) Ruane. Her siblings were Bridget, John, Honor (Nora), Anne (Nancy) and Kathleen. She immigrated to the US as a young woman and met her future husband Airman Francis T. Hayden in the Catskill Mountains of New York. They were married on July 7, 1951 in Brooklyn, NY and her life as an Air Force wife and mother began. Stationed in Hawaii, Washington, D.C., New York, Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska and England, Mary was the matriarch and glue that held together this growing band of (eventually five) children moving from base to base. After Frank retired from the US Air Force, the family settled in New Hyde Park, New York. Frank and Mary ran a neighborhood bar called the Bell Café in Bayside, Queens while Frank also worked as a full-time computer programmer at Avis. Many a bar patron enjoyed one of the hundreds of free corned beef sandwiches Mary served on Saint Patrick’s Day. Mary was a daughter of Ireland always and visited there regularly. Eventually, Mary and Frank settled down for a final retirement in Colorado Springs to be near their daughter Mary and son Gregory and their children. Here she was able to dote on and mentor her Colorado grandchildren, attend countless school sporting events and have a base from which to visit her other children and grandchildren in Virginia, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Mary enjoyed cooking for her family (think apple pie, Shepard’s pie and Irish soda bread), knitting, crocheting, quilting, and a good cup of tea. Never one to sit still, she spent many years volunteering at Penrose Hospital Gift Shop. Mary’s gifts to her family were many, with her unselfish love, sacrifice and devotion the most obvious and lasting. She will be missed dearly by her children Mary (Keiki) Hayden and John Cavanaugh of Colorado Springs, Michael (Mick) and Jackie Hayden of Saint Augustine, FL, John (Sean) and Nancy Hayden of Jeffersonville, VT, James and Sharon Hayden of Vienna, VA, Gregory and Ellen Hayden of Colorado Springs, her 19 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, and her surviving sisters, Nora Heneghan, Nancy Forde, and Kathleen Ruane. She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Frank Hayden. The service will be held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at 6455 Brook Park Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 on June 8, 2017 at 10 am. A rosary will be said in the church at 9:15 a.m. prior to the mass. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to Catholic Relief Services http://www.crs.org/ways-to-give or 228 W. Lexington St. Baltimore, Maryland 21201-3443