Public Works Facilities Named For Hayden Wagers

Friday, May 6th, 2022

Hayden Wagers loved to work. Those who knew him never take long to mention his work ethic and love of hard work when they remember him. Now one of the places where he loved working most is named in his honor. 

On Friday, the City of Dalton renamed the Public Works complex on Elm Street the "Hayden L. Wagers Memorial Facilities." 

Wagers passed away in February at the age of 86. His lifetime spent in the service of Dalton involved work as a police officer, as a teacher of special needs children, as a coach, and as a crew leader with the Dalton Public Works Department. His work there included leading summer mowing crews of teenagers to keep the city looking clean and sharp. When that work was done, though, work continued for Wagers.

"He would work in the summertime with those kids and then he would go cut somebody’s grass when he got done with that. There are not many people who would do that," Bill Chappell said during Friday morning's ceremony. Chappell coached the Dalton High School football team with Wagers as one of his assistants. "He had the biggest and kindest heart. I'm honored that I knew and worked with Hayden Wagers. It was my pleasure." 

David Pennington, Dalton's mayor and a former student of Hayden Wagers, also remembered Coach Wagers' work with his summertime crew of football players and other teens.

"He ran a crew of 15 boys in the summer, and they did the work of 15 men," Mayor Pennington joked. "Hayden did the work of 14 men and the rest of the boys did the work of one man." 

Andrew Parker, Dalton's city administrator, is part of the legacy Wagers left behind through his hard work. Parker came to work for Wagers' summertime mowing crew during his high school years and left with a new direction and a new career.

"He was so big in the lives of so many including myself," Parker said during his speech Friday. "I was going off on a different career path in music and I came to work here in my junior year of high school with Coach Wagers and his interest and his community pride in maintaining our community in a beautiful way sparked an interest in me to change my career path and ultimately I became city administrator which I never would have thought would happen."

Parker noted that Wagers' attention to detail is still paying dividends for the Public Works Department even today. The plans he developed for the mowing program and maintenance of city property and right of ways is still used by the department today and will be for years to come. 

Traffic division supervisor Alex Rice spoke during Friday's ceremony on behalf of his fellow Public Works employees, most of whom worked with Coach Wagers for years. 

"He gave a lot of his time and I can personally say he impacted me," Rice said. "I got to know Hayden for 26 years. He was my mentor, he was a special man, I learned a lot from him. I want you to know I loved Hayden Wagers."

The ceremony ended with words from Wagers' wife Rita and the unveiling of the plaque naming the Public Works facilities for one of the department's hardest workers - a literal mark left on the City of Dalton to go along with the figurative marks he left on the many lives he touched. Afterwards, the Public Works Department had a cookout lunch for those in attendance, one last nod to Wagers who would buy a lunch for the Public Works crews every year. 

Below: Speakers at Friday's ceremony included Mayor David Pennington, Coach Bill Chappell, and Andrew Parker; members of Wagers' family pose next to a plaque in Wagers' honor after its unveiling