LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gov. Steve Beshear announced today that Jean Sawyer Hayes and family are donating $1 million in matching funds to build the Sawyer Hayes Community Center at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville. The state will contribute another $1 million toward the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2009.
The center will be dedicated to the memory of Erbon Powers “Tom” Sawyer and Dr. Ray Hogan Hayes, Mrs. Sawyer Hayes’ late husbands. “Tom and Ray were both special men who cared about others,” said Mrs. Sawyer Hayes. “The Center is a tribute to them.”
The Center is designed to add another dimension to the park and be a warm and welcoming place for family events--from weddings to reunions--as well as meetings and conferences. The 8,066 square foot building will have a large reception hall, meeting room, wireless internet and two large patio areas.
The 550-acre park currently features a recreation center with a gym, 50-meter swimming pool, sports fields, fitness trail, tennis courts, picnic shelters, a bicycle moto-cross track, dog park, and an urban astronomy center. It provides year-round nature and recreation programming.
“We very much appreciate this contribution from Mrs. Sawyer Hayes and her family,” Gov. Beshear said. “This enhances one of our great state parks and is a gift to the community, the state and visitors from far and wide.”
Joining Gov. Beshear and Mrs. Sawyer Hayes at the April 18th groundbreaking ceremony were family members, Diane Sawyer, co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, Linda Frankel, Greg Frankel, Armand Hayes and Tara Hayes.
E. P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park was once the working farm of a much larger Central State Hospital. Remnants, such as barns and cemeteries, remain on park property today. The community center’s location was once the center of the main campus of Central State Hospital.
Gov. Louie B. Nunn dedicated the park in the fall of 1971. By 1975, the park recreation building and pool were officially opened with the assistance of matching funds from a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant.
E.P. “Tom” Sawyer was born in Metcalfe County in 1915. This highly respected attorney spent his life serving the public. A Naval officer in World War II, he was a graduate of the University of Louisville Law School. “Tom” was elected Jefferson County Attorney in 1961 and appointed Jefferson County Judge Executive in 1968. He died in an automobile accident in 1969.
Dr. Ray H. Hayes was born in Hardin County in 1919. He helped pioneer mental-health programs at Eastern State Hospital between 1957 and 1961 and later served as superintendent at Central State Hospital. Hayes was a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville and coordinated its psychiatric outpatient services. He and Jean Sawyer Hayes were married in 1974. Dr. Hayes died in 1997.
###