It was a place kids liked to hang out, and a center where grownups could catch up on the news. Like most stores of its era, Hayes Store in Gray wasn’t just a place to buy things. To Mark Heath, the store was more like a second home.
The Hayes were an established Maine family long before Charles Earle Hayes came to Gray from North Yarmouth. Emigrating from Scotland, John Hayes settled in Dover, N.H. in 1680. According to the town report, his grandson, John Hayes, was commissioned to start a tannery in “the ancient North Yarmouth” around 1752.
Mark’s maternal great-grandparents, Otis and Augusta Campbell, always had close ties to the Shakers. They bought property from them and even lived with the Brothers and Sisters at one time. Otis Campbell was a master carpenter who worked at Sabbathday Lake. Mark’s mother, Katherine, and grandmother, Vema both attended Shaker school in the Shaker Village. “Mom went with these frilly little dresses,” said Mark. “All the other girls were envious of my mom’s dresses.”
When his great-grandparents were elderly, they sold their home and moved to an apartment at Sabbathday Lake. Charles Earle Hayes married Vema around 1926, when he established his first local store, where Handy Andy’s is now located in Yarmouth. In 1927 he bought Antonio’s store at the comer of routes 100 and 115. In fact, the two business owners traded spaces. Hayes Store moved into Antonio’s and vice versa. “That was kind of neat,” Mark said.
Earle and Vema lived in the apartment above the store. Earle Hayes – “Everyone called him Earle,” said his grandson – was a confectioner by trade and trained at Haven’s Candies in Portland and Spear’s in Auburn. “When he bought the business he made his own candies,” said Mark. “Needhams were his specialty.” Sweets weren’t limited to candy; Hayes also made his own syrups for fountain drinks.
It was a very successful store,” said Mark, “in part because seven roads intersected at the location.”
Hayes sold gas and groceries and cut meats in addition to the soda fountain. It was also the bus stop. “Grandpa would sell anything, and as the first store in Gray to sell televisions.” “It was where you could sit and have a hangout for kids,” said Mark, adding with a chuckle, “Now those young kids are in their 80s.”
During WWII Earle was also the chief air raid warden for the town of Gray. In 1943 he was issued a black out emergency vehicle permit from the state of Maine. As such, he made sure residents complied with blackout measures.
When Mark walks down Main Street in Gray, he can see the past just as clearly as the present. He points out the place where his grandfather’s store once stood. He remembers being allowed to walk down the street from his house, and cross two streets to go to his grandfather’s store when he was just 5 years old. The town’s Civil War monument was at the center of where routes 26, 100 and 115 converge. It’s since been moved. A Dunkin’ Donuts has taken up residence. “Now, it’s all changed,” Mark said in a tone tinged with sadness.
Things changed for Earle Hayes around 1931 or 1932. He and Vena divorced, causing a custody battle that reached beyond the family. “It made the papers,” Mark said. Earle married Annis Jordan of Pownal in the late 1930s. In the 1940s, Annis was instrumental when Hayes Store expanded and added a lunchroom in an ell attached to the store.
Mark’s bond with his grandfather goes deeper than just the store. In 1957, when he was 5, his family moved into his grandfather’s house. His uncle, Walter Hayes, who had also worked in the store, lived upstairs. The two front rooms were rented to a doctor, but it was the family home until Mark was 17.
During business hours we had to be quiet because he saw patients,” Mark recalled about the doctor. “That was hard with six kids.” Around 1957-58, Earle began working part time as a toll taker for the Maine Turnpike; between 1959-1960 he started working for the turnpike full time and turned the operation of the store over to his nephew, who was also named Charles. In 1961 Hayes closed as a general store, but it was not vacated. “After he gave up the store, the store became the (Vaughn’s) pharmacy and the ell remained Whitney’s Barber Shop,” Mark said. “That (the barbershop) was there while my grandfather was in business.”
After Earle died in 1964, Mark’s mother and uncle took over the store. Besides Vaughn’s Pharmacy, the building and attached ell were rented to an auto parts store and a beauty parlor.
The store was torn down in 1969. “It took a few days; I was in high school,” said Mark, adding; “It’s a vague memory.” But Mark’s memories of his grandfather are clear – he was the man everyone liked. “He was considered the nicest guy in town; he had a gentle smile,” Mark said. “He was a pretty special guy to me.”
Reprinted with permission of
Memories of Maine Magazine
Southern Maine Edition
Summer of 2013
Corner of Portland Road & Yarmouth Road
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