Mary Jane Kilborn Hayes was a nationally recognized marine photojournalist and storyteller
Mary Jane Kilborn Hayes, a cherished contributor to Soundings for the past two decades, passed away on Jan. 12 in Hanover, Massachusetts. Renowned for combining the eye of a photographer with the sensibility of a storyteller, Hayes built a body of work that captured the spirit of cruising, coastal life, and the everyday moments that define the New England maritime experience.
Born in Cuba to American parents and raised from toddlerhood in Quincy, Massachusetts, Hayes brought a lifetime of coastal perspective to her marine photography and writing. Her most recent book, Serena to Sea Story II, was published in October 2009 and illustrated the depth of her connection to boats, cruising, and the people she met along the way. Over the years she became known not only for beautiful seascapes and intimate vessel portraits, but also for the warm, precise narratives that accompanied her images.
Hayes’s journalism and photography ran in tandem: her words provided context for her evocative images, and her photographs often inspired the stories she told. For close to twenty years Soundings readers enjoyed her pieces that explored cruising routes, small-boat life, seamanship observations, and the human side of boating culture. Her reports and photos resonated with both seasoned mariners and casual readers, earning her a reputation as a nationally recognized marine photojournalist.
Her marriage to Warren Hayes was also a partnership on the water. Warren recalls that Mary Jane “wasn’t a boater when I met her, but she took to it like a natural.” The two cruised together beginning in 1969 after moving to Hanover from Scituate, Massachusetts. Over the decades their fleet included Serena, a Sabre 28; Sea Story, a 32-foot Grand Banks; and Sea Story II, a 36-foot Grand Banks. Both Sea Story and Sea Story II were kept just off the Satuit Boat Club on Scituate Harbor, a touchstone of their boating life and community involvement.
The couple’s cruising itinerary covered much of New England, including Buzzards Bay, and extended down the East Coast to Florida twice via the Intracoastal Waterway. They also made two voyages up the Hudson River. One of Mary Jane’s most memorable journeys came in 1985, when she and Warren took their first trip down the East River through New York City. The spectacle of the Statue of Liberty, the city traffic, and the helicopters overhead left a lasting impression and became one of her favorite cruising memories.
Warren remembers that she never got seasick, a trait that allowed Mary Jane to enjoy everything from bright, clear days to the pea-soup fogs that can roll in on the coast. Their shared life at sea lasted half a century; they were married for 50 years and are parents to a daughter, Julie. For Warren, being married to a well-known marine photographer and writer was a source of pride: he notes how many people admired her photos and enjoyed her stories, and how her work connected with an appreciative audience across the country.
Colleagues at Soundings recall Hayes as a reliable and creative contributor. Rich Armstrong, managing editor at Soundings during the years he worked with her, described Mary Jane as “a special photojournalist for our publication,” and remembered her as a pleasure to work with—always ready with a fresh story idea and a thoughtful approach to assignments. Her pieces consistently delivered engaging narratives and striking imagery, making her a valued presence in the magazine’s pages.
Mary Jane Kilborn Hayes leaves behind a legacy rooted in marine photography and narrative journalism. Her photographs preserved small moments of life on the water—light on a cabin top, a mooring in fog, a crewman at the helm—and her writing gave readers a sense of place and the lived experience of cruising. For many in the coastal and boating communities, her work served both as practical guidance and as a reminder of why people choose a life connected to the sea.
This remembrance originally appeared in the New England and Connecticut and New York Home Waters sections of the April 2010 issue of Soundings. Her work continues to be appreciated by those who value maritime storytelling, coastal culture, and the visual craft of marine photography.