Obituary: Virgil Haynes

Virgil Haynes of Oak Ridge died at home on Tuesday, January 6.

Mr. Haynes, the son of Millicent and Chester M. Haynes, Sr., was born on January 2, 1922, near Baker, Oregon. His parents moved to a farm near Caldwell, Idaho, in 1924 and he grew up there. Since June 1943, when he came to work at Y-12 for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation, he lived in Oak Ridge.

He had an Engineering degree from the University of Idaho and was also a graduate of the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology. Most of his working career was at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, retiring from Martin Marietta Energy Systems on January 31, 1985 with over 41 years of service.

He was a member of the American Chemical Society, the BPOE, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and The Fuller Society, and he was a founding board member of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. He was honored by Phi Eta Sigma and Sigma Tau.

Survivors besides his wife, Dorothy, include, in Birmingham, AL, a daughter, Linda Byrd, a granddaughter Cassidy Byrd Nelson and husband Jody and great-granddaughter Ayla of Knoxville; son Gary Haynes and wife Laurel of Knoxville and her daughters Alyssa and Colleen Moore, step-daughter Vicki Hancock, step-granddaughter Angela Acuff and husband Bryan and their children Rogan and Jurnee; and in South Carolina, step-daughter Peggy Rosser, step-grandson Meca Ward and his children Brittany, Whitney, and Meca, step-granddaughter Carol and husband Keith Martin and their children Cody, Kassidy, and Caleb, and step-granddaughter Rachel Rosser and husband Joey McGee and children John David and Chloe Barbara; and nieces Donna Lopez, Bonnie Eyre and nephew Richard Haynes and many cousins in Idaho.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father, brother and sister-in-law, and first wife, Juanita.

The family received friends Friday, January 9, at Kern Memorial United Methodist Church from 1 to 2:30 p.m. with funeral service following, the Rev. Donald Morris officiating. The burial then took place at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.

An online guest book may be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com.

Memorials may be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the ET Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America, or to the Kern Memorial United Methodist Church building fund.