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SAN CLEMENTEAN


Robert (Bob) Hayden A Legacy of Giving


by Joan Ray A


sk Robert (Bob) Hayden to tell you his life story and he’ll tell you he was born in Monesson, Pennsylvania on Sep-


tember 7, 1917 and by October 1918, he had seen and done everything there was to see and do there. So with his parent’s best interest in mind he brought his folks, Gertrude and Dory Hayden, to Long Beach, California. His father soon found work as a furniture


salesman. But though he was a talented drafts- man, designer and studied mechanical engi- neer, he was no salesman, and he quickly became store bookkeeper. This job suited his penchant for detail, and he made a career in public accounting his life’s work. Bob demonstrated his entrepreneurial ca-


pabilities at age 14, when he began delivering papers. With the value of the dollar in 1931, the $10 he earned each month covered his spending money and bought most of his cloth- ing.


On March 10, 1933, Bob was in the car with his parents when suddenly the ground


began to shake; the street was moving and the car was bouncing. Chimneys fell off roofs and whole houses were displaced. Damage from the Long Beach Earthquake equaled 40 to 50 mil- lion 1933 dollars, and was one of the most de- structive quakes in California history. Many houses were destroyed, but since Bob’s father had drawn the plans for their house, placing the floorboards on the foundation, it couldn’t move and remained intact. Bob had joined the Boy Scouts in 1929.


The Long Beach Scouts had a camp in Idyll- wild, near Mount San Jacinto, a perfect place to hone rock and mountain climbing skills. In 1935, after climbing San Jacinto several times, he, other scouts, and leaders tried Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48. In three working days they reached the summit and celebrated. They descended to the bottom the following day, camped overnight on the side of a volcano, then triumphantly returned home. On October 6th of this year, Bob was hon-


Sharing a reunion with his family for his 98th birthday.


ored by the Orange County Boy Scouts of America, receiving a certificate of recognition for his generosity to scouting and for being the oldest Eagle Scout in the county. Upon graduating from UCLA with a de-


gree in business administration and a major in accounting, Bob joined the staff at Douglas Aircraft. But WWII interrupted his post- col- lege employment plans and in November 1942 he enlisted in the finance branch of the US Army. After basic training he was sent to Ore- gon State College, where he studied engineer- ing with the Army Specialized Training Corp. “After a year there – armed with additional


engineering training - the Army decided they needed me in the infantry,” Bob said. “Two weeks later, I was placed in the Quartermaster Company of the 70th Infantry Division. But instead of marching, I drove a truck.” Bob was in Europe for most of the war,


driving an estimated 13,000 miles in France and Germany. He was discharged December 6, 1945 and went to work for a CPA in Laguna Beach on December 10. In 1949, diagnosed with what Bob called


Bob & Carol Hayden. 26 SANCLEMENTEJOURNAL


a “mild case of service related tuberculoses,” he spent the next year recuperating. The need to stay quiet physically didn’t keep him from being active mentally. He maintained his prac- tice propped up in bed with a lap table. An as- sistant manned the typewriter and adding machine. Once mobile, he got his Public Ac- countant license and started his own business in Laguna Beach. In June 1951 he purchased a business in


San Clemente. He combined it with his exist- ing business and made himself comfortable in his new town. Shortly thereafter, as something of homage to his father, he earned the title of Certified Public Accountant. “During my career, we primarily serviced


small business owners with accounting, tax services and business consultation,” he said. “Auditing was a minimal part of our business.” But in the early 1950s, when the State


Board of Education required that each school district be audited, they turned to Bob to do the job.


Community Benefactor Almost immediately after moving to San


Clemente Bob became involved in the commu- nity. He joined the San Clemente Rotary Club in 1951, eventually holding every office in the club for at least one year; several for multiple years. He is an active member to the present, having helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for local philanthropies. Further helping the club’s charitable ef-


forts he served as the first treasurer for Rotary’s San Clemente Jazz Festival, continuing for eight years. He has been a major donor to the San Clemente Rotary Club Foundation, the or- ganization’s charitable arm, and was also the foundation’s founding president. With Jim Evert, then president of Sunrise Rotary, Bob helped fund a $25,000 donation from both clubs, funding a room at the center named, what else, “Rotary Room.” Bob served on the city’s planning commis-


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