Robert Hayes

Bob was born in a clapboard house above the harbor in Portland, the youngest of four. He swam before he could walk properly, his mother used to say, and he never really stopped.

For thirty-four years he taught math at Deering High School. Former students still stop us at the grocery store to tell us how he made algebra feel like a puzzle worth solving, and how he stayed after class for anyone who asked.

Numbers are just stories that happen to be true.

He married Anne in 1974 and together they raised two children, a small apple orchard and an unreasonable number of cats. In retirement he took up wood-carving, entered every chess tournament in Cumberland County, and lost to his grandson on purpose exactly once.

This page is a place for all of us who knew him to keep adding what we remember: the photos, the jokes, the recordings of him singing badly at every birthday. Please share yours.