Margaret Ann Williams Hays

“Maggie”

July 25, 1925 – September 24, 2018s

After ninety-three years, Margaret {Williams}Hays has joined husband Don and headed out into the ‘Range of Light’ they so dearly loved. Her life story is a hard one to tell as bounded by the confines of this space.

Born a military brat (Cavalry) at Ft. Huachuca, AZ, July 25, 1925 Margaret was well traveled before arriving in Pacific Grove in 1938. Arriving at Swede’s Gate, father Col. Joseph M. Williams handed her a horse from the stables and instructed her to ride to the Presidio where she would then be taken to her new home. Riding alone across the then undeveloped Ft. Ord she made her way to the Presidio. A striker took her to her new home on Beaumont Ave. soon to become “Candy Cane Lane” where she began her life-long love affair with the Monterey Peninsula.

From these US Cavalry beginnings as a young girl Margaret competitively jumped sidesaddle on the US Cavalry Equine Team, earning Olympic judging qualifications for dressage. She was also a stunt double for Elizabeth Taylor in the movie classic “National Velvet” for the scenes filmed in Pebble Beach.

Margaret started high school in Pacific Grove, California and graduated from Kingman High School, Kansas in 1943 as her father had been reposted there for a short time. Returning to the Peninsula she attended Hartnell College, worked at the Del Monte Cannery which is now the site of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and tabulated the sardine catch daily at the Johns Hopkins Marine Institute with Ed “Doc” Rickets and on one occasion played chess with John Steinbeck during her lunch break. In her youth, Maggie was an avid falconer and she was one of the first female aviators.

Margaret met Donald Rousseau Hays at a Carmel Ski Club Meeting, fell in love and were married in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1950. Over the next fifty-eight years of marriage they raised three children, Don Jr., Curt and Valerie and became a part of the vibrant tapestry of Carmel.

While husband Don worked at the “Mighty Mo” Moss Landing Power Plant, Margaret was a homemaker, mom, active in the community and attended All Saints Episcopal Church. Scout Den Leader (Don was Pack Master), Brownie and Girl Scouts (Camp Counselor), founding members of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club (once leading a hike to Pine Valley with then Mayor of Carmel, Eban Whittelsey (who was blind but guided by his dog Reagan), serving on the Hatton Canyon Advisory Committee, and was an early supporter of Clint’s mayoral candidacy, a member of the Mayflower Society and Daughters of the American Revolution, Zonta International and active in the Carmel Red Cross. Maggie was the person you wanted on your side when something needed to get done, attested to by a treasure trove’s worth of articles in The Herald and the Carmel Pine Cone (Prof. Toro, Peninsula Life, and her own ‘Letters to the Editor’). Margaret worked around town (Boys Town, Jacks Freeze, The House That Jack Built) before being hired by San Francisco developer Gerson Baker to oversee public relations during the construction of Carmel Plaza, which she subsequently managed for almost 20 years.

Also, among her charges were her family animals, most notable of these being the little burro “Pancho” who resided at the family post adobe home, Mudlark (made out of mud and built on a lark) and was part of the family and neighborhood for almost 30 years. Pancho also became part of the tapestry, participating in Mission Fiestas, Cinco de Mayo Parades in Monterey, Christmas nativities, the Grand Master Judge in one Great Sand Castle Contest, delivering the first Carmel Pine Cone after it’s revival, and group hikes too numerous to recount, finally culminating in his being given the Key to the City of Carmel in 1980.

Cultivating lifelong friendships, Maggie and Don organized mussel hustles, Christmas caroling around town, and so many stories revolving around hiking exploits with her friends in the Ventana Chapter (once surprising her fellow trekkers [and to the great consternation of Ward Allison] while hiking to the remote and trail-less Ventana “Window” with a beer and ice drop that she cajoled one of her military buddies to helicopter drop-in!)

As avid travelers, in later years Maggie and Don traveled the world, be it by their Airstream trailer, Cessna 172 aircraft or by jet. On one trip to China in 1978 which was covered by the Herald in special sections, she and Don met and became friends with Geo. H. W., Bush and Barbara. Later they were invited to the inaugurations of both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Maggie had a “lovely” luncheon with Barbara and Marti Holdridge, wife of then Ambassador to Indonesia and school mate John Holdridge of Carmel on the Whitehouse Truman Balcony.

Further journeys included hiking on local Los Padres trails, numerous high sierra trails, including the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trail (NST), and later in life the Great Wall of China, paddling up a river in Borneo, safaris in Africa and India (via elephant) or loping atop camels in the Sahara, as well as climbing the Great Pyramids of Giza and the tombs in the Valley of Kings and Inca temples in Mexico. She also loved to sail on her boat the “Prydwen” in which she competed, and won, two consecutive Central Coast Sailing Championships, and participated in regattas and many cross-bay excursions for lunch.

Maggie's hosting was legendary; whether a Christmas or Cinco De Mayo bash, sterling and crystal dinner party...or planning group meals for extended hikes into the high country (once serving a picnic on Half Dome...) always served with style and grace. She once took her entire Cub Scout Pack to the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco on the last run Del Monte Express.

As with her illustrious life, so this story must also end. But while it may be said that she died of complications of a life thoroughly lived, her indomitable spirit will live on in each of those who knew her and who have their own stories to tell about “Maggie!” Mischievous, bold, imaginative and fun-loving, we are left celebrate one who was uniquely of our own, and perchance to ponder: Might our own mothers be one of God’s greatest creations?

A remembrance and get-together will held at All Saints Church on Saturday, November 10 from 1:00 - 4:00 PM. Maggie would be honored to have donations made to our local SPCA for Monterey County, PO Box 3058, Monterey, CA, 93942 or to a charity of your choice. Please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com to sign Maggie’s guest book and leave messages for her family.

Happy Trails and Godspeed Mom!