But it was through his own work, as a youth counselor, preacher, state representative, and Parole Board member, that the Rev. Haynes made his deepest imprint, shaping and guiding generations of young people struggling to overcome poverty and racial discrimination.
Those he mentored, many through a high school club known as “The Exquisites,” went on to become prominent figures in the church, and in higher education, politics, journalism, and medicine.
“A great and mighty tree has fallen in the city of Boston,” said the Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, associate pastor of Twelfth Baptist Church. “Dr. Haynes was a seminal figure who shaped the history not only of Roxbury and African-Americans in Boston, but the city of Boston. Really, his influence reached throughout the world.”
Those he helped to mold include H. Carl McCall, the chairman emeritus of the State University of New York board, who was 15 when he first met the Rev. Haynes outside of a pool hall on Humboldt Avenue, where McCall was hoping to make a quick buck.
The Rev. Haynes, who was in his early 20s, gave McCall his first job, right there on the spot, as a junior counselor at Breezy Meadows Camp, a summer camp in Holliston for inner-city children where the Rev. Haynes was a counselor and program director.
“He encouraged me and others to pursue education and, for those of us who listened to that, it certainly made a difference in our lives,” said McCall, a Dartmouth College graduate and former New York state comptroller and ambassador to the United Nations. “He pointed out the importance of being socially responsible, but also to have hope, to have faith, that we could overcome whatever obstacles might be in front of us.”
Alfreda J. Harris, 81, a former Boston School Committee member who grew up in Roxbury, was a 9-year-old homesick camper at Breezy Meadows when she met the Rev. Haynes. He urged her not to leave camp, and carried her letters home to the mailbox every day. She went on to return to Breezy Meadows for many summers after that, and eventually became a senior counselor.
“For me and many others, he was a guiding light, particularly for those who were in single-parent households,” Harris said. “He was a great mentor and a caring and loving person and sent many, many of us on to college and to positive lifestyles and professional careers.”
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Source: Boston Globe
