Harriet Haynes, 75

LEE, Mass. — Harriet Haynes, born H. Cecilia Hawkins in Dorchester, Mass., on March 3, 1941, died peacefully in her home in Lee on Tuesday, May 24, 2016. She was 75 and had bravely endured a long-term illness.



Mrs. Haynes grew up in Lee, attending St. Mary's and was a pro merito graduate of Lee High School (1958) before graduating from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (1962). Her childhood was remembered by her lifelong friend and Lee resident, Deidre Consolati, as fun-loving and mischievous: “her eyes had a way of crinkling up when she laughed” with her Consolati “sisters.” Mrs. Haynes always loved going to Joe's Diner in Lee.



She moved to New York City after college, where she resided for most of her eventful life. Early on she worked at the Animal Medical Center and turned her love of reading into a master's degree at Columbia University. Her former colleagues remember their "gorgeous friend Harriet” and her early adult years as “high-spirited” and “fearless.” She once hitchhiked with a dear friend from Amherst to New York City, to visit Broadway.



In 1968, she met Charles Smith Haynes with whom she would be married for 46 years. Her bold decision to trade in a round-trip ticket and move to Japan, for love, is legend and another example of the brave approach she took to life. Harriet and Charlie were married in Tokyo and spent their early married years abroad, both employed at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria; living and traveling in Indonesia and the Far East; and returning to New York City to raise two sons.



She was an entrepreneurial, working mother — styling window and catalogue displays for Macy's; investing in “fixer upper” Berkshire County real estate in the early 1980s; and joining the Corcoran Group as one of Barbara Corcoran's most valued residential real estate “power brokers.” Mrs. Haynes received several awards from The Corcoran Group before retiring to her first love — lake views in the South County — where she and her husband once owned cottages spread across Goose Pond, Otis Reservoir and Big Pond. Her devoted husband fondly remembers boating on those ponds together.



In the Berkshires, Mrs. Haynes frequently entertained and introduced New Yorkers and Boston-area family to the rich culture she most enjoyed: regional theater, Tanglewood music, and the regions' abundant estate and "tag" sales, furnishing her cottages and homes with tasteful antiques at modest cost. She loved a good bargain. Mrs. Haynes is remembered by those who knew her best as hard-working, generous, a "fiercely proud mother,” and by her oldest grandchild as “incredible!” — the word she used to describe his own accomplishments.



Mrs. Haynes had enormous pride in her husband's artwork, which has been displayed in exhibitions and shows in NYC and Berkshire County, as well as her sons' families and work.



She is survived by Charles Haynes of Lee; her son Zachary Haynes and daughter-in-law Kristen Leitch Haynes, her granddaughters, Georgia Lu and Cecilia, all of Brooklyn, N.Y.; her son Lukas and grandson Jimmy of Montclair, N.J.; her sister-in-law Margaret M. Hawkins of Pittsfield; her niece Brenda Leahy of Georgia; and her nephew Jeffrey Hawkins of Wisconsin.



Mrs. Haynes was predeceased by her parents, Herbert and Marie Hawkins, of Lee; her brother Ralph Hawkins of Pittsfield; and her granddaughter, Ana Lucia “Lulu” Haynes of Montclair.



Funeral notice: Mrs. Haynes will be laid to rest in a private, family ceremony and a public memorial celebration will be scheduled in the weeks to come. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Lulu's Fund, a children’s education charity, or in care of Kelly Funeral Home, 3 Main St., Lee, MA 01238.