Family at a loss over son’s death

Tim Willert

LA CRESCENTA -- From the time he was a little boy, Paul Hayden loved

to hike the foothills above his home on the corner of Pickens Drive and

Briggs Avenue.

Abandoned caves and wells drilled into the hillside at the turn of the

century especially piqued his interest.

“We used to explore the same cave where the accident happened,”

recalled Robert Waldron, Hayden’s best friend and constant companion.

“We’d crawl back in there and look around. We always thought how cool it

would be to go back in there some day.”

On Sunday, Hayden’s curiosity cost him his life.

He died during a recreational dive deep into a well, a dive he and his

brother, Michael, had planned for months, family members said Tuesday.

“It’s just like somebody turned the sunshine off,” Hayden’s mother,

Edythe, said Tuesday night. “He was my baby.”

What made Hayden’s death hard for his family to accept was that he was

a highly decorated, well-trained member of the U.S. Army’s pararescue

team, the equivalent of the Navy Seals.

“They are the guys who rescue downed pilots from enemy territory,”

said Hayden’s sister, Christine.

Hayden, 39, was the youngest of six brothers and sisters. He lived in

Tucson with his wife, Maxine, but had returned to La Crescenta to

surprise his father on his 84th birthday.

The family had a birthday party planned for Sunday afternoon at the

Upland home of Paul’s sister, Cathleen.

On Tuesday, William Hayden’s birthday presents remained unopened.

“He’s devastated,” said his wife. “He’s trying to pretend it didn’t

happen.”

An autopsy concluded Tuesday produced no significant findings, L.A.

County Coroner Scott Carrier said.

“There was no evidence of any trauma and no foul play,” said Carrier,

who added that toxicology studies on the body will take six to eight

weeks to complete.

Waldron and Paul Hayden were inseparable. The two graduated from

Crescenta Valley High, and Hayden followed Waldron into the Air Force,

where both served as pararescuemen.

“I loved him like a brother,” Waldron said Tuesday from Las Vegas,

where he is an operations manager for Virgin Atlantic Airlines. “I’m

heartbroken.”

Waldron said Hayden was highly respected among his fellow soldiers,

and had a reputation as one of the top scuba divers in pararescue.

“When I heard he was diving Goss Canyon, my first thought was, ‘What

the hell is he doing?”’ Waldron said. “I thought we had explored that

cave when we were kids.”