Deputy Mayor Hayes has big, old shoes to fill
UPPER TOWNSHIP — While there are sadly few pairs of shoes to fill for Kim Hayes as a female leader in the township, they include the big, buckled ones of two Revolutionary War heroines.
The committeewoman was elected by her peers as the first female deputy mayor in the history of Upper Township, incorporated in 1798, during the annual reorganization meeting Jan. 6.
“That’s an awesome accomplishment, really humbling,” Hayes said. “Women, especially young girls, need to see women in leadership roles to know that they can aspire to that, too.”
Hayes is only the third woman ever to serve on Township Committee and first to hold a leadership role. The previous two were Barbara Camp, who served two terms beginning in 2004, and Kristine Gabor, who served in 2010 and 2011.
Hayes was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Committeeman Hobie Young in 2020 and was elected to her first full term beginning in 2022.
Born Kimberly Emberger, the baby in a family of five that includes older sister Kelly and older brother Jeff, the 44-year-old grew up in Sea Isle City, where she said she had about 20 people in her eighth-grade class at a school that has since closed due to low enrollment.
While there, she got her first experience with a woman in a leadership role; her mother was president of the PTA and later served on the Sea Isle City Board of Education in the 1980s.
“She was always involved and always taking on leadership roles,” Hayes said of Marguerite Emberger, who also had her hands full at home as the mother of three whose husband was away half of the time. Her father, Wayne Emberger, worked in nuclear power for 50 years, mostly out of Pennsylvania.
Hayes said her mother set an example and was someone to look up to.
“There are so many women that I can think of throughout my life that I looked at like that,” she said during a recent interview at Beesley’s Point Park. “One of the things that always strikes me is, standing here we are at a marker on the Women’s Heritage Trail.”
The New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail uses historic places to lead a journey throughout the state, telling the story of some of the Garden State’s famous women. Marker #59 is next to the boat ramp off Harbor Road at the park and is named Foxborough Hill at Beesleys Point Bridge.
The marker reads:
“According to local legend, during the Revolutionary War, Rebecca Stillwell Willetts looked out into the Great Egg Harbor Bay from Golden’s Point (now called Beesleys Point). Looking through her father’s spyglass, she saw that a British sloop had entered the bay and set out a long boat filled with redcoats heading for the point.
“Fearing that the British were intent on pillaging stored supplies (consisting of food and clothing), she and her sister Sarah set off to the cannon, located along the water’s edge. The women were alone since their father was away buying supplies and Rebecca’s husband Captain James Willetts had marched with 50 recruits to answer the call of Governor Livingston’s plea to help defend Philadelphia. The cannon had been supplied by the Legislature at the request of the settlers to protect their stores.
“Rebecca fired a round of cannon grapeshot towards the long boat and the British returned to their sloop and left the bay, its settlers and their homes unscathed.”
“Talk about a leadership role,” Hayes said. “That’s an example of a leadership role, just taking charge and doing what needs to be done.”
Hayes went to Ocean City High School, where she played softball and basketball all four years and graduated in 1996.
After high school, she earned an associate degree in nursing from Cumberland County College. Later she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Wilmington University, where she is now studying for her master’s degree.
She now works as an Ambulatory Care Management Team Leader for AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center.
She married Cumberland County native Shaun Hayes and lived there while they started their family. They have three children — Aidan Hayes, 20, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard; Treasa, a senior animation major at Chartertech High School for the Performing Arts; and Logan, a freshman at St. Augustine Prep.
Meanwhile, her parents sold their home in Sea Isle and moved to the township to join her two siblings.
“They got tired of the hustle and bustle of the islands in the summertime,” she said.
So, they decided to join the rest of the family.
“When our oldest was ready to start school, I wanted to come back here. My family has all settled here — my sister lives here, my brother lives here, my parents live here — we love the schools, the recreation. All of the things we love about Upper Township were all the reasons why we picked here to live and raise our kids.”
Hayes said she enjoyed growing up in Sea Isle City because it was “very small, very tight-knit.”
“It was a great place to grow up because it was a small community. Everybody knew everybody,” she said.
Part of why she ran for Township Committee is to try to keep the township a desirable place to live.
“It’s a beautiful place, a great place to raise our children,” she said. “Our kids are on their way out of the school system and recreation programs. I feel like we took so much from this that it’s time to give back.”
She said the “amazing thing” is that the township recreation programs are not taxpayer-funded.
“We provide buildings and grounds and insurance. They are privately funded programs; they’re all nonprofits. We support them with the rec advisory board and facilities, but it’s all volunteers,” she said. “And that’s what makes Upper Township so awesome — you accomplish all of that and it’s all volunteers.”
Hayes said religion has always been part of her life. The family attends St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Marmora.
“Faith in God is what gets you through every day,” she said, noting she has a favorite saying: “God has a plan even if he doesn’t share it with us.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff