Today's Featured Biography

 
Mary Ann Thompson Haywood

In 1961, I married Keith Thomas, who was also in our class. Our son, Barry, was born in 1963, and 22 months later our daughter, Wendy, was born. Keith and I were divorced in 1965.

After the divorce, I felt like a failure, and was worried that no man would want a woman with two children. We moved in with my mother, and I went to work at Mother’s Cookies.

Then, in the summer of 1966, I met Arthur Haywood. He was from a family with eight children, and he liked my children right away. He was great with them. We married on April 27, 1967. We have been married for 43 years. He is a wonderful person and loves my children, as well as the two sons that we had together: David and John.

Our son Barry is a very motivated, ambitious person who worked his way through college at Wichita State University. He now works in Washington, D.C., and does sound bites for news clips. He got to pin the mikes on President Obama and Barbara Walters for the interview that Barbara did with our president in December of 2010. He also worked the interview of President Obama in January 2011.

Barry’s wife has her master’s in psychology, and they have one daughter.

Our daughter, Wendy, is married to Pat Alvarez, a contractor. They have three daughters together, and he had a son and a daughter when they married.

David married his high school sweetheart, Arlene, and they have a son and two daughters. Sarah, their daughter, received a golf scholarship to college recently.

John graduated with a math and chemistry degree from Wichita State University, and then received a doctorate degree while in Kansas City. He is a doctor of chiropractic. He and his wife, Stacy, have two boys and two girls.

We have 13 grandchildren. Wendy’s stepdaughter has two children, so I have two great-grandchildren.

My husband, Arthur, had a heart attack and a stroke four years ago and went on Medicare disability. That drastically changed our lives. He had worked for 30 years at Cessna Aircraft Company.

I had worked mostly at home during my early marriage but, in 1980, I went to work at Presbyterian Manor Nursing Home. I worked there for 30 years.

I love gardening, both flowers and vegetable gardening. I also love spending time with my grandchildren, but time with some of them is limited because they live so far away. It is very enjoyable just listening to the teenagers today. I had forgotten how teenagers talked and acted. For Christmas, I let my grandchildren pick out their own presents. That way, I know they like what they receive, and I love taking them shopping and spending time with them.

My faith has always held me together in hard times, like when my husband was so sick, during our child-rearing years, when my mother was so sick, etc. My faith is very important to me. I don’t necessarily mean the church, but my faith in God. We now belong to the Free Will Baptist Church and are very active members. We participate in the Just Over Youth (JOY) group for retired people.

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