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Sunday, June 07, 2009
Hayes: A Life Worth Remembering
By Maggie Ybarra
Journal Staff Writer
Thunderous applause and ear-piercing whistles filled the Rio Rancho High School gymnasium Saturday as teachers, parents and teammates stood up and cheered for Corbin Hayes.
Only instead of cheering for a ball Hayes had hit out of the park or a touchdown he had made during a game, they surrounded his coffin and cheered in honor of the way he had played out the short 13 years of his life.
More than 600 people attended the memorial ceremony for Hayes.
He had been swimming with friends May 28 in the Rio Grande when he was swept away by the current. A search-and-rescue volunteer found Hayes' body partially submerged in the water near the Alameda Bridge on Tuesday.
Jeremy Humphries, who coached Hayes' older brother Garett when he was a member of the Young American Football League, said Hayes was an extremely focused athlete who once ran into a parked truck while trying to catch a football in the front yard.
"My son Michael was at one end of the driveway with (Garett), and Corbin says, 'Hey, hit me deep.' So Corbin takes off running up the driveway and he's going full speed ... and ran right dead smack into that truck," Humphries said.
"There was that moment of silence where everybody's like, 'OK, is he hurt?' and out of nowhere Corbin gets up with the football, laughing hysterically, and that is the fierce competitor that Corbin was."
Humphries said the lesson everyone should take from Hayes' death is to cherish their loved ones and not take them for granted.
"I know that at times we get so deep into our routine, our things that we do, that we take a lot of things for granted, and unfortunately sometimes the things we take for granted are also the ones we love the most — our family members," he said.
A screen had been set up behind Hayes' coffin, and for about five minutes, a slide show comprised of family photos was shown. There were pictures of Hayes in his various sports uniforms, Hayes with his family and as a child with food smeared all over his face.
The Rev. Jerome Wade of Destiny Church, who knew Hayes through a friend, said he had recently been privy to Hayes' MySpace blog, in which Hayes had uncannily written about what he wanted from life and death a few weeks prior to the day he drowned.
"I don't want 15 minutes of fame. I want a life," Wade read from Hayes' blog.
"I hope to be remembered, not just recalled. I hope to make a difference. ... One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching."
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