From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Hayes, Charles Marion, Sr.
(born: 1889 - died: 1970) Charles M. Hayes, Sr. from Springfield, KY was a founder of the Gibraltar Health and Accident Insurance Company in Indianapolis, IN. He was the first president and actuary of the company. Hayes had worked in insurance in Kentucky; in 1917, he was superintendent of the Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company in Hopkinsville [source: Hayes' WWI Draft Registration Card]. He had also served as Dean of West Kentucky Industrial College (now West Kentucky Community and Technical College).Hayes was a World War I veteran, having served with the 92nd Division in France as part of the A. E. F. (American Expeditionary Forces). He had been commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant at the first Officers Training School at Fort Des Moines, IA.
After an honorable discharge from the service, Hayes and his wife moved to Cincinnati, OH, where Hayes was employed as an insurance superintendent [source: 1920 U.S. Federal Census]. In 1924, the couple had moved to Indianapolis, and Charles M. Hayes, Sr. was president of the Gibraltar Insurance Company when he sailed to France and Great Britain on business [source: Hayes' U.S. Passport Application, July 2, 1924].
By 1930, the Hayes family members, Charles M. Hayes, Sr., his wife, and their son, living on Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis [source: U.S. Federal Census]. From 1940 until his retirement in 1957, Hayes was employed as an interviewer in the U.S. Employment Service and Indiana Employment Security Division. The service division was often accused of segregated and discriminatory hiring practices. Charles M. Hayes attempted to explain the agencies hiring procedures in the Indianapolis newspapers.
Hayes was also a member of the NAACP Indianapolis Branch. He was a graduate of Lincoln University (PA) and did graduate work at Columbia University and Indiana University. He was the son of William T. Hayes and the husband of Eunice M. Hayes (1894-1966) from Hopkinsville, KY. Eunice was a graduate of Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University] and had taught school in Hopkinsville.
For more see "Charles M. Hayes, Sr.," Indianapolis Recorder, 8/29/1970, p. 6; "Eunice M. Hayes," Indianapolis Recorder, 6/25/1966, p. 3; "Charles M. Hayes" in W. A. Chambers' column titled "Some People" Say - - In Our Town," Indianapolis Recorder, 1/4/1958, p. 2; C. M. Hayes, "Local hiring technique explained by USES aide," Indianapolis Recorder, 7/7/1945, pp. 18 & 19 [photograph of Charles M. Hayes included in article]; and "Segregated U.S. Employment Office plans, generally denied by all officials," Indianapolis Recorder, 8/28/1943, pp. 1 & 3.