Religious, child-welfare communities mourn loss of gentlemanly executive

By Felix Hoover

For YourNewsColumbus.com

Alvin R. Hadley, a pillar in the religious and social-work communities, died Wednesday morning at Columbus Colony Elder Care. He was 78.

From January 2000 until late last year, Hadley had been the driving force behind the Columbus Metropolitan Area Church Council, a platform that allowed him to mobilize the religious community on social issues and to mediate among various faiths and denominations on local and global issues.

For a half-century, Hadley attended University Baptist Church and performed many duties on behalf of the denomination.

His bio shows roles as Moderator of the Columbus Baptist Association, President of the American Baptist Churches of Ohio, and board member for a number of entities, such as the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio, the Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, the Ohio Council of Churches General Board, the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group, the Columbus Downtown Clergy Group, Project Linden, Maryhaven, Columbus Coalition Against Violence, Ohio Domestic Violence Network, Ohio Domestic Violence Network, Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Committee and the Mid-Oho Regional Planning Commission.

The church council work was among many community activities in which he was involved after nearly three decades as a caseworker and administrator at Franklin County Children Services. He retired from the agency in 1988.

During his stint at Children Services, Hadley influenced staff members as well as clients.

Greg Arnold, the agency’s adoption supervisor, had done field work there 30 years ago during his second semester as a student at Capital University and came to know Mr. Hadley.

When Arnold and another student with whom he had done field work applied for a permanent job, they were surprised by the response from the agency’s human resources department.

“We were treated like we had just walked in off the streets,” Arnold said.

Once they made Hadley aware of the situation, he intervened. The next week, Arnold and his colleague were invited to join the staff.

Current Executive Director Eric Fenner, 53. said he modeled his career after Hadley’s and early on aspired to Hadley position, then-director of child and family programs, now deputy director.

“He had a quiet dignity about him that really set him apart from everyone,” Fenner said. “He was always caring and supporting and he was my mentor long before he knew it.”

Two years ago, when Fenner took over the agency’s top spot, he was astonished to hear Hadley’s congratulations and praise.

Last year, when Fenner asked him to join the Children Services board, Hadley said he thought he could better assist in the community, but yielded to the executive director’s persistent plea and agreed to do whatever Fenner deemed best.

“To have your mentor say ‘I will do whatever you ask’ was an overwhelming moment for me,” Fenner said. “For me, that was my rite of passage.”

Hadley spent most of his early life in Texas, from his birth on Nov. 3, 1930, in Queen City, through completion of his undergraduate work at Bishop College in Marshall.

He earned a master’s in social work at Ohio State University after serving in the U.S. Army in Japan from 1954 through 1956.

In 1961 he married Mabel R. Lester, to whom he was wed until her death in 1991.

Hadley’s son, Patrick, of Atlanta, said, “My faith lived his faith every day through passionate devotion to human service, community involvement and promotion of religious tolerance and understanding. We will miss his physical presence, but know that his love and spirit endure through the vivid example he set for us.”

Besides Patrick, Hadley’s survivors include a daughter, Renee Elaine.

Calling hours will be 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, at the Schoedinger Funeral Home, Linden Chapel, 2741 Cleveland Ave.

Friends may also join the family at the funeral home at 9:45 am on Saturday, Jan. 31, to travel to Union Cemetery for a graveside service at 10:15 am. Following the graveside service, the public is invited to a memorial service at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, 760 E. Broad St. A reception will follow.