Willard Haithcock wasn’t a gregarious person, according to his son Heath. He was quiet and soft-spoken, to tell you the truth. But he loved a good routine, you could count on him being at the Henderson Family YMCA at pretty much the same time every day of the week.
“You could set your watch by him,” he said of his dad, whom he described as the quintessential family man who provided for his wife and children
When Haithcock died in 2021, it made perfect sense to his family to establish scholarships in his memory to give others a chance to enjoy the benefits of the Y that he himself had enjoyed so much.
“My dad was not one to draw attention to himself,” Heath said on Monday’s TownTalk. But as the family considered how to best honor their loved one, a scholarship to the YMCA was what leapt to their minds.
“We wanted his life to stand for something,” Heath said, admitting that if his Dad could weigh in on the matter, he’d most likely call the idea the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.
His dad instilled in him to treat others the way he wanted to be treated. He taught by example – Willard treated everybody equally, his son said.
“That’s what the Y does,” Heath said. And the family chose to create one scholarship for an individual membership and one for a family membership, he said, because “they YMCA is all about inclusion.”
“He really wasn’t that into fitness,” Heath said. But those daily visits to the YMCA gave his father an outlet to reduce stress, get in a little physical activity and embrace a side of his personality that he may not have demonstrated in his business life.
“It became part of his routine…he was very regimented and routine-oriented,” he said.
He became a mainstay at the Y and Heath said the Y became one of the joys of his Dad’s life.
Sadly, Willard didn’t get to enjoy the benefits of retirement for very long. He died just a couple of years after he sold his business.
“It’s a shame he couldn’t have spent more time doing what he enjoyed,” Heath said.
There is no doubt that he would have stuck to his routine and been a 7-day a week YMCA gym rat.
“It was great that he had that venue and that outlet…to be his true self,” Heath said.
The deadline to submit an application for the scholarships is coming up this Sunday, Apr. 20. Find the application at https://www.hendersonymca.org/.
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