Street Smarts: Tucson's Sylvia Street named by a proud and prominent dad

John C. Haynes was both a proud father of four children and also a city father of sorts who left his mark on the Old Pueblo in many ways — as did his extended family members.

He was born in 1895 in San Diego, but two years later his family was living in Tucson. He graduated in 1912 from Tucson High School, which was located in the building that now houses the Roskruge K-8 school.

In 1916, he graduated with a bachelor of laws degree from the College of Law at the University of Southern California and soon returned to Tucson. The same year he entered the law office of Eugene S. Ives in Tucson, with whom he associated for a year, during which he was admitted to the Arizona State Bar.

His legal career was interrupted when he joined the Army during World War I , becoming an aviation instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Returning to the Old Pueblo, he took up law again, specializing in probate and real property. In 1921, he represented Pima County in the Legislature.

The following year he wed Edith V. Failor, whose parents, Herman and Olive, were both lawyers, originally from Iowa. The Failors moved to Tucson in about 1904-05 for Herman’s health; he died in 1913. Edith was raised by her mother, who is believed to have been the first woman clerk of the Pima County Superior Court.

In 1922, John and Edith had their first son, John Jr.; in 1925 their second, Harry; and in 1928, twins Stuart and Sylvia.

By the time the twins were born, the family was living at 710 E. Speedway, a home that still stands.

In 1929, Olive Failor created the Granada Park subdivision, which was bounded by Glenn Avenue, (later Glenn Street) to the south, Alvin Road (now Blacklidge Drive) to the north, Country Club Road to the west and Palo Verde Boulevard to the east. One of the streets in the addition was Edith Boulevard, which is likely the source of a misunderstanding that this alignment is named for Edith Failor Haynes. The street was named in 1924, almost certainly for Edith Sparkman.

In 1930, as a member of the Committee of Resolutions for the Pima County Bar Association, John Haynes helped create a resolution in support of Judge William Sawtelle (namesake of Sawtelle Avenue) for an appointment to the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The following year, Sawtelle was appointed to the court.

In 1936, Haynes was involved in real estate when he created the small Grant Road Park subdivision located between Grant Road to the south, Glenn Road (later Glenn Street) to the north, Forgeus Avenue to the west and Treat Avenue to the east. At the time, Copper Street and Water Street were the two streets that went through the subdivision.

This addition had only one new street to name. Since Haynes Avenue (now Limberlost Drive) already existed, and nearby Edith Boulevard was already named, Haynes decided to honor his little girl, and Sylvia Street was born.

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The following year, Haynes recorded the Grant Road Park No. 2 subdivision just to the west of the original Grant Road Park subdivision, but no new street names were added.

After many years of active membership in the Morgan McDermott American Legion Post 7, Haynes became department commander of Arizona from 1936-37. He also served as chairman of the building and finance committee, which was responsible for the construction of the post’s first permanent home, at 112 W. Pennington St.

During World War II, both John Jr. and Harry served as navigators in the Army Air Forces, (now the Air Force) with the former stationed in Italy and the latter at Luke Field in Phoenix, while Stuart and Sylvia attended Tucson High School.

Following the war, all four of the Haynes children attended the University of Arizona at the same time, which earned the parents a blanket from the university for having the most children attending at once.

Sylvia attended the College of Education and graduated in 1950. She began teaching soon after at Mary Lynn Elementary School (now Lynn/Urquides Elementary School) at 1573 W. Ajo Way. One weekend she went to a friend’s birthday party and a young man, James “Jim” Pfersdorf, who incidentally lays claim to being the first member of the Tucson Boys Chorus, opened the door. She took one look and said to herself, “That is the man I am going to marry,” and so it came to be, along with their three sons John, Jim and Rick.

By 1951, both John Jr. and Harry had graduated from the UA, had wed and were attorneys at their father’s law office at 127-131 N. Stone Ave.

Four years later, Ashby Lohse, (son of L.A. Lohse, namesake of Lohse Family YMCA), a Tucson attorney who had shared the law office with the Haynes family for 15 years, decided to open his new offices at 188 N. Church Ave.

In 1957, Edith, who had been a civic and social leader, died.

John would remarry, to V. Clare Dodd, a former Tucsonan then living in Virginia. He died in 1985.