Community mourns loss of Hayden Finley

By John Loesing Acorn Staff Writer

Hayden Finley

Hayden Finley, a retired L.A. County Sheriff’s Department captain and one of the area’s best loved community service volunteers, died Jan. 8 from a heart attack.

He was 71.

Finley served as commander of the Malibu Sheriff’s Station from 1979 to 1982. He helped start the Agoura Optimist Club, worked for Childhelp USA, and dedicated much of his career toward the betterment of youth.

"He cared about people, and when someone was down on their luck, he was the first one there," said longtime friend George Annino. "He touched a lot of people’s lives and he’ll be missed."

More than 250 people attended Sunday’s funeral services at Pierce Bros. in Thousand Oaks. Burial was at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village.

"He was very dedicated and believed strongly in God," said Morris Womack, Finley’s close friend and golfing partner for more than 30 years. "He was involved in so many things, and if he put his hand to it, he saw that it would succeed."

Womack, a former professor at Pepperdine University, helped Finley start a second career as a professor of communications at the Malibu-based campus.

Finley taught at Pepperdine from 1989 until the time of his death.

"He was one of my very dearest friends," Womack said.

Speaking at the service along with Womack were Lost Hills Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Glazar, Optimist Club president Kameron Johnson and Pepperdine vice chancellor Lou Drobnick.

"The big thing about [Hayden] is that he was such a pleasant person," Glazar said. "He always had a great sense of humor."

Until the opening of Lost Hills station in Calabasas in 1991, responsibility for public safety in the local area of L.A. County rested with Malibu station. Finley left the Malibu post in 1982 and spent a year in youth services until his retirement from the sheriff’s department in 1984.

"Most of his career was spent in juvenile services. He was wonderful with kids," said Finley’s wife, Heidi.

Finley later went to work as the interim director of Childhelp USA, one of the largest and oldest national nonprofits dedicated to the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Finley is survived by two sons, a daughter, four grandsons and two granddaughters.

Thanks to golf, the bond between grandfather and grandchildren grew strong.

"He played golf with everybody and anybody who would play with him, including my grandsons," his wife said. "He taught them how to play and they would just call every time there was a school holiday and say, ‘Grandpa can we play golf?’"

In addition to being charter president of the Optimist Club, Finley was a past executive director of the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce and a member of the local Masonic Lodge.

During the Christmas holidays, Finley often assisted with the Shriner’s toy collection drive for hospitalized children. Finley served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

He moved his family to Agoura Hills in 1980, and in 1985 he ran for the Agoura Hills City Council, but lost.

The defeat wasn’t seen as a setback.

Said Finley’s wife, "He was the eternal optimist. He lived by the Optimist Creed."