Louis Haynes

VISITATION: 2-3PM, Saturday, August 9, 2014 at Shorten & Ryan, Mason

CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE: 3PM, Saturday, August 9, 2014 at Shorten & Ryan, Mason


HAYNES, Louis V.- Lou is survived by wife Bette (nee Steuart) Haynes; sister Barbara (Dick) Marlow of California; son Larry Haynes (Trish); son Brian Haynes (Shelly); grandchildren Jacob, Lauren, Christopher and Ana Haynes of Cincinnati; Madelyn and Mallory Haynes of Buffalo, Minnesota. Age 77. Passed away Tuesday, August 5, 2014. Family will receive friends at Shorten and Ryan Funeral Home, 400 Reading Road, Mason, Ohio 45040 on Saturday, August 9, 2014 from 2-3pm with a Celebration of Life service from 3-4pm. In lieu of flowers please make donations to Buckeye United Fly Fishers Club, P.O. Box 42614, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242.

Lou was born in Merced, California, on April 24, 1937, to Raymond Allen and Verna Rose (Chezick) Haynes. As a youngster, along with sister Barbara, the family lived in Chowchilla, California. In the early 1940's the family moved to San Francisco where father Ray worked as a welder in the shipyards. Once Lou was grammar school age, the family purchased a 60-acre parcel of undeveloped land south of the town of Manteca, California, where they built a house, a barn, and started a dairy.

In 1948, the family moved to Dos Palos, California, where father Ray managed a large dairy while Lou attended school for grades 7-9. In 1952, however, the Haynes' bought their own herd of Guernsey cows and restarted the dairy farm back in Manteca. Lou not only helped milk the cows, but he and sister Barbara were avid 4H members and would show calves at local fairs.

After finishing high school in Manteca, Lou entered the Modesto Junior College where he earned his Associates of Arts degree in the spring of 1958 with a focus in chemistry. During the following summer, Lou worked for Shell Development as an analytical chemistry technician at their agricultural research lab in Salida near Modesto, California. Here he determined levels of pesticides in agricultural products.

In the Fall of 1959, Lou entered Fresno State College. During his time at FSC, he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, became house steward for the 40-man fraternity house, played fast-pitch softball as a catcher and outfielder, and met his lovely wife Bette, who was also attending the college. Bette and Lou were married in Lindsay, California, on June 25, 1961. Lou then graduated with a B.S. Degree in Chemistry in January of 1962.

After beginning the Master's program at Fresno State, Lou continued on at the University of California at Riverside where he was eventually granted his Ph.D. In analytical chemistry in April of 1967. From here, Lou relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he began a long career at the Procter & Gamble Company as a physical/analytical and product development chemist. During his 31 years with P&G, Lou worked at many of the Cincinnati technical sites. His areas of focus included work on: nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared and mass spectroscopy; high pressure liquid and gas chromatography; general analytical method development; and product safety studies. He retired from P&G on February 22, 1998.

Outside of work, Lou was an exceptional family man. Upon arriving in Cincinnati in 1967, he and wife Bette settled in the Forest Park area. In July 1969, son Larry was born. The family grew again in July 1971, with the birth of son Brian. The Haynes family attended Forest Park Methodist Church, where Lou served for 4 years on the church board. In 1976, they built a house in Pisgah (West Chester), where they raised their family and currently reside.

When not working, Lou spent much of his time being involved with his boys. He coached their youth baseball teams, youth soccer teams, and taught them to fish. As the boys grew up, got married, and had families of their own, Lou became the ultimate fan of his grandkids' teams and taught them to fish as well. After retiring from P&G, Lou began taking cooking classes and became an excellent family chef. He passed on many of these skills to his sons and their wives. Lou was an all-around handyman and enjoyed many projects around the house. He also joined the Buckeye United Fly Fishers in 1998, where he served as club president from 2006-2008 and was education director for 6 years. Lou was also a volunteer and board member on the Cincinnati Chapter of "Fishing Has No Boundaries", an organization that holds fishing events for physically and mentally challenged people. In 2009, Lou added to his list of interests by attending bird outings with the local Cincinnati Bird Club. He enjoyed not only feeding multitudes of birds in his backyard, but also learned local bird species, their calls, and taught his grandkids to identify them.