SANFORD — Family members said Maurice Hayden will be remembered as a hard worker who would do whatever it would take to provide for them.
Hayden, 42, died Thursday, a day after he was hit in the temple by a tee shot at the Mayfair Country Club.
He died mid-afternoon when he was removed from life support at Central Florida Regional Hospital, Sanford police Sgt. David Morgenstern said.
Hayden was doing maintenance work on the par 5 second hole at the Mayfair Country Club when he was hit by the golf ball. The golfer who hit Hayden will not face charges, Morgenstern said.
“It was just an unfortunate accident,” he said. “He [golfer] just didn’t see the worker, and the worker didn’t see him.”
“He was a very, very hard-working man,” Elonda English said of her step-father. “He was pretty much an all-around kind of guy.”
Hayden was born and raised in Jamaica. He had lived in Palatka before moving to Sanford three years ago and getting the job at the country club, English said.
He loved music, watching television and playing dominoes, she said.
He was married to his wife, Evelena, for 4 1/2 years and had one other step-daughter, Lil’china, 15, English said. He also had two children in Jamaica, Mauricea, 18, and Maurice Jr., 10, she said.
English, 26, said the family has been showered with cards and flowers from neighbors and friends.
“He was just a type of dude that anybody could walk up to and talk to,” she said. “He would help anybody, whatever it was.”
Many of Hayden’s coworkers at the country club spent hours at the hospital after Hayden was injured.
“I feel like they took it harder than we did,” she said.
TJKS thoughts and Prayers go out the family. R.I.P Bredren!!
Let us give thanks for all God’s goodness and the wonderful heritage into which we have entered:
Response to each petition: We give thee thanks, O God
For Jamaica
our island home, the land of our birth
RESPONSE
For the majesty of our hills, the beauty of our valleys, and the flaming loveliness of our gardens
RESPONSE
For the warmth and brightness of our days and the calm and peace of our countryside
RESPONSE
For the rich heritage of our people coming for many races, and yet one in purpose, in achievement, and in destiny, and for the dignity of labour and the service given by every citizen of our land
RESPONSE
For freedom, just laws and our democratic way of life
RESPONSE
For the high privilege and responsibility of Independence and for bringing us to nationhood
RESPONSE
For our parents, teachers, religious and other leaders and all those who in every walk of life are helping to prepare us for responsible citizenship, and for all those who are giving voluntary service in the public interest
RESPONSE
For the poets, artists and thinkers and all who create in us the vision of a new and better society
RESPONSE
For our godly heritage, the example of Jesus Christ and the sacrifices of our fathers in the faith