Hayden Fox Glenn, 92

Hayden Fox Glenn, of Huntsville, Ala., passed away shortly before dawn April 16, 2021, at age 92, a quiet end to a full life, well lived.

He was born to Albert Fox and Ruth Hayden Glenn on Sept. 7, 1928, at Fort Sam Houston, where his father was a U.S. Army Air Corps flight instructor. From 1932 to 1935, the family was stationed at Nichols Field in the Philippines. Two years after their return to the States, his father received a medical discharge and the family settled in his hometown of Brooksville, Miss. After graduating from Brooksville High School, Hayden attended Marion Military Institute, St. Louis University and Spartan College in Tulsa, Okla.

A call from the draft board interrupted his studies. In 1948, the U.S. Army sent him to Japan as part of the occupation force. He returned to Brooksville and continued his engineering degree at Mississippi State, in part because he’d caught the eye of Jane Britton at the local swimming pool. Their courtship continued during his second deployment, this time to Korea in November 1950, just in time for the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir and subsequent Hungnam Evacuation.

After his safe return, he and Jane married Aug. 23, 1953. He graduated from Mississippi State in 1954 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and took his first job working on the C-130 for Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Ga. They welcomed two sons, Ed and Bill, in Marietta, and a third, Tommy, in Melbourne, Fla., where he worked for Boeing on military aircraft he couldn’t tell Jane about. In 1964, they settled in Huntsville, Ala., where their daughter, Alice, was born. There, he worked on both the Saturn V and Skylab, among other projects, before his retirement in 1990.

Raised in the flat lands of Mississippi, Hayden was a mountain man with a sense of adventure. He and Jane lived on Monte Sano for 54 years and he was a familiar sight on his daily walk around the neighborhood. For several years, he helped organize the annual Monte Sano Hiking and Limping Society trip on the Appalachian Trail. In addition, he and Jane spent many summers serving as campground hosts for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana, first at Howard Lake and then at Pete Creek. He also had a deep love of sailing and the sea and was an active member of the Muscle Shoals Sailing Club. For many years, he sang baritone in the choirs at First United Methodist and Monte Sano United Methodist churches as well as in the Huntsville Community Chorus.

Hayden was a southern gentleman in the truest sense of the word: a thoughtful, well-read man of deep faith, devotion to his family, kindness, gentleness and curiosity. He never ceased learning or trying to figure out how things work, as only an engineer can. He loved his Mississippi State Bulldogs and never missed watching an Atlanta Braves game. Despite the isolation of the last year, he kept up his spirits with gratitude and patience — an example to us all. He was excellent at mimicking voices and reading stories, and possessed the special talent of wiggling his ears and the tip of his nose. He was very loved, and he will be missed.

Hayden joins his parents, his beloved wife, Jane, and his son, Bill, on the holy mountain of the Lord’s house.

He is survived by his sons, Edwin Fox “Ed” (Ralene) of Helena and Thomas Britton “Tommy” (Barbara) of Huntsville, Ala.; daughter, Alice Jane Glenn Kirsch (Stephen) of Huntsville, Ala.; daughter-in-law, Julie Glenn of Asheville, N.C.; nephew, Bobby Taylor of Crawford, Miss.; great-nephew, Robbie Taylor (Kristy) of Crawford, Miss.; great-niece, Bebe Taylor Willcutt of Houston; grandsons, Britton Glenn of Helena, Will (fiancée Sabrina Smits) Glenn of Baker's City, Ore., and Travis Glenn of Missoula; granddaughters, Stacy Broadway (Greg) of Ardmore, Tenn., Amanda Glenn-Bradley (John) of Asheville, N.C., Johanna Wilson (Matthew) of Huntsville, Ala., Molly Kirsch of Murfreesboro, Tenn., Elizabeth Kirsch of Ashburn, Va.; and two great-granddaughters, Antonia Jane and Martha Louise Wilson of Huntsville, Ala.

Berryhill Funeral Home is assisting the family. In lieu of flowers, donations may made be made to: Appalachian Trail Conservancy, P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-9988

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