Rusty Haydon is 100% Satisfied

When a popular, active woman like Lois “Rusty” Haydon turns 100, everybody wants to celebrate.

When Rusty (she doesn’t know how she picked up the nickname as a child) reached the century mark on Aug. 28, 2018, she attended five different birthday parties.

Celebrants included her family, her church, a women’s group at the church, her son-in-law’s office and the folks at Mayfair Village Retirement Community where Rusty resides.

Friends and relatives had plenty to celebrate with Rusty who says, “I’ve had a full life.”

A world traveler with an adventurous spirit, Rusty went ziplining in Costa Rica when she was 86.

Afterward, she asked if she was the oldest customer. When she was told that a 90-year-old had preceded her, she waited four years and ziplined again, this time in North Carolina.

She tended her garden and mowed her lawn till she was 99, when she finally relinquished her car keys.

An avid UK football and basketball fan, she attended games for nearly 70 years. She favors Kentucky-bred players, citing Johnny Cox of Hazard, who scored 1,461 points from 1956-1959.

Hazard is just up the road a piece from Blackey in Letcher County where Rusty was raised and walked a mile to school every day “past the water tower and the frog pond.”

After high school, Rusty enrolled at Centre College where she served as the student body president and graduated with a degree in English in 1941. Less than a month later, she married Tom Haydon, who served as a Lieutenant in the Air Force during World War II.

The couple’s two children, Tom and Donna, were born during the war, and the family moved in 1951 to Lexington where Tom worked for General Electric.

A dedicated parent and grandparent – she has four grandchildren and six great grandchildren – Rusty created a warm, loving home for her children.

“She was everything you could imagine,” said Donna Gibson, a retired school teacher who lives in Lexington.

“She guided us in the right direction, was involved in what we did and she was always willing to listen to our side.”

And she was a great cook. Donna’s favorite? Chocolate chip cookies. “There was always something in the oven,” Donna said.

Community-minded, Rusty volunteered with the PTA, was a fraternity and sorority mom when her children attended UK and served as a Pink Lady, volunteering at Good Samaritan hospital for more than 40 years.

Rusty still found time to travel. She and Tom took business trips to Honolulu and Cuba, in the 1950s before Fidel Castro took power.

In the 1970s, she chaperoned student trips to Europe, visiting 12 countries. More recently, she traveled with Donna and her granddaughter to Costa Rica and Prince Edward Island, and volunteered in Gulf Port, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.

They slept in sleeping bags on the floor of a church for a week. Going to the beach meant cleaning up refuse as it washed ashore.

A widow since 1995, Rusty socializes and plays bridge with her many friends. She visited Mayfair Village many times for lunch dates and card games with friends.

In January of 2018 when Donna and her husband Douglas planned a two-month trip to Florida, Donna suggested that Rusty stay at Mayfair Village.

“They had a lovely, furnished studio apartment and I knew that she would be safe,” Donna said.

The two-month stay served as a trial run to see if Rusty would enjoy living there.

“I had been to Mayfair many times and that was the only place I considered,” Rusty said.

So, after another season of tending to her garden, Rusty moved into a one-bedroom apartment in August.

“I’m very happy here and don’t know anyone who is dissatisfied,” said Rusty, who recommends Mayfair Village to friends.

She joins the morning exercise class three times a week, walks the halls constantly to stay active, attends the lunch-and-learn sessions and enjoys the many outings, including trips to Keeneland and the Japanese garden in Georgetown.

In addition, Mayfair Village provides drivers to take residents anywhere in Fayette County.

Rusty takes part in a Bible study class and mingles with friends during happy hour twice a week.

And she loves the food in the dining room that features white tablecloths and a Kentucky Proud menu.

“I need to be with people and I have made so many friends here,” Rusty said. “The staff is wonderful. They are not only friendly, they really care.”

Mayfair Village Retirement Community, at 3310 Tates Creek Road, offers Independent Living and Licensed Personal Care. Info: 266-2129.