Ledyard "Ledge" Hakes IV, a third-generation Coronado resident who served on the school board, organized school volunteer projects and helped run the family's hotel businesses, died July 28 at his home.

He was 76.

Born May 5, 1950, to Elizabeth and Ledyard Billings Hakes Jr., Hakes grew up in Coronado and graduated from Coronado High School in 1968. At CHS, he competed in football, track and wrestling, reaching the CIF finals in wrestling and winning Most Athletic Student his senior year.

After graduation, Hakes volunteered for the Navy and served aboard the USS Iwo Jima off the coast of Vietnam from 1970 to 1972, according to a family obituary published in the Coronado Times.

He married Carol Corlett, also CHS Class of '68, in 1972. The couple moved to Atlanta, where Hakes built a landscaping business. They had three children before returning to Coronado as a family in 1989, bringing a fourth generation of islanders back home.

Hakes remarried in 1997 to Mary McArthur Hakes. They had one daughter, Erin.

Decades of giving back

In 1995, Hakes organized what became the CHS "Pride Project," rallying parents and students to repaint parts of Coronado High School. He was a longtime member of the Optimist Club of Coronado and helped lead the Coronado Optimist Sports Fiesta, which supports youth sports on the island.

He won election to the Coronado Unified School Board and served from 2011 to 2015, according to his family. A district audit report for fiscal year 2013–14 lists him as clerk of the governing board. At the 2015 graduation ceremony, he handed his youngest daughter Erin her CHS diploma.

His family owns and operates the Coronado Inn and Coronado Island Inn, along with rental properties around town. Hakes worked alongside relatives in the day-to-day management and maintenance of those businesses.

A familiar face around the island

Neighbors knew Hakes as the man riding his bike around Coronado, gardening at one of the family properties or doing yoga at the Coronado Yoga & Wellness Center. He earned a brown belt in Tai Chi.

In 2017, he and Mary walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal. He loved Fourth of July celebrations, CHS reunions with close friends and weekly golf games at the Coronado Golf Course.

Hakes is survived by his wife Mary and former wife Carol; four children, Ledyard, Courtney, Logan and Erin; six grandchildren; and four siblings.

A memorial mass is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church in Coronado, followed by a celebration of life at the Coronado Golf Course at 12:30 p.m.