Lester Hayworth; Radio Broadcaster, Veteran

Oxnard resident Lester Hayworth, whose baritone voice was familiar to Lancaster and San Bernardino radio listeners through the early 1970s, died Saturday at his home after a lengthy illness. He was 79.

Hayworth was born Feb. 27, 1918, in Gothenburg, Neb.

In the mid-1930s, he joined the Navy. When his tour was up in 1940, he moved to Los Angeles, where he met his future wife, Mae. They planned to be married Dec. 7, 1941, in Las Vegas, but their plans were put on hold briefly by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Everything that day just kind of went kooky . . . and that’s why we didn’t get married until a minute after midnight,” Mae said.

“It was supposed to be the seventh of December, but by the time the ceremony was over, it was the eighth. We never forgot our anniversary, and it was a joyous time after everything had settled down,” she said.

According to Mae Hayworth, her husband landed his first radio job at KAVL-AM in Lancaster. “He did everything there. He got up at 4 o’clock in the morning and put the thing on the air,” she said.

He spent a total of 20 years as a news and sportscaster, working at stations in Lancaster and San Bernardino. “Most people knew his voice when he came on. He might not have been a big shot, but he had a very nice, high baritone voice,” Mae said.

Hayworth left radio for a time when he was called back to the military to work on aircraft.

His final broadcast was in the early 1970s.

“He loved radio. He just loved it,” Mae said.

Following Lester’s retirement, the couple made numerous trips to Nebraska and Arizona, and always found time to go back to Las Vegas, according to Mae.

They moved to Oxnard in 1985.

“We had a great life, and now I have a great loss,” she said.

In addition to his wife, Hayworth is survived by son Ron of Grant’s Pass, Ore.; daughter Leslie Bligh of Camarillo; five grandchildren; and sisters, Nona Klein of Fort Morgan, Colo., and Darlene Klooz, of Sargent, Neb.

Hayworth will be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.

“He was a sailor, and I think this is what he would want,” Mae said.

Arrangements are under the direction of James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard.