In Memory

Clarence Hayes - Class Of 1947

The reason dates are a little off is he is one of 4 graduates to come back from military service and graduate. Final rites for Clarence Robert Hayes, 37, of route 1, Battle Ground, a former Delphi resident, who drowned Sunday morning in the Tippecanoe River, were held Wednesday morning at the Jackson Funeral Home in Delphi The Reverend Marshall Stull officiated and burial was made in Rest Haven Cemetery. Hayes was fishing with his cousin, Charles Owens, who told police he tried to pull Hayes to his feet after ho went under in waist-deep water, but that he slipped from his grasp. Carroll County Coroner James Sullivan said he believed Hayes suffered a cramp while attempting to wade from the east to the west shore at a point on the river known as Hufty’s Beach, south of Springboro and that death was due to asphyxiation. State Trooper Tom Pitstick and Conservation Officer Howard Webb were in a boat driven by Thomas Williams of Frankfort when the Hayes body was recovered on their first pass down the river, below where Hayes disappeared. They found his body in 12 feet of water about 100 yards downstream. The sheriff’s department also was called to the scene. Hayes, a navy veteran of World War II, was a utility carrier working out of Lafayette Parcel Post Annex. He was born in White County on April 12, 1927. His parents are Clarence S. and Anna McCloud Hayes of Delphi. His marriage in 1955 was to Dorothea Haag. He attended schools in Michigan City and was a graduate of Delphi High School and a member of the Delphi American Legion. Surviving with the widow and his parents are a daughter, Linda Lee, at home; and two brothers, George and Paul, both of Delphi.

Delphi Journal July 23, 1964