Ted D. Haley was born April 23, 1921 in Sturgis, Kentucky the second of three children of M.M. Haley, a Civil and Mining Engineer, and Myna E. Haley. At age six weeks his family moved to Holden, West Virginia where his father became a district engineer for the Island Creek Coal Company. After a year in Holden, the family returned to Western Kentucky for a year in Dawson Springs, and then moved to Madisonville where Mr. Haley spent most of his youth with an interlude of one year in Canton, Illinois, 1929-1930. He graduated from Madisonville High School in June 1939.
Mr. Haley’s first entry into higher education was at the then Murray State Teachers College. He was in music education because of the influence of a teacher he admired in high school. Also, he had worked summers since 1935 on surveying crews and did not realize that an engineering career entailed more than holding a red and white pole in the middle of a corn field. So, he elected for the cool confines of the concert hall.
He graduated from Murray State in June 1943 and shortly after reported to the Marine Recruit Depot (Boot Camp) at Paris Island, South Carolina. The marines opened his eyes to many things; among the more beneficial was the feeling and fulfillment of purpose derived from technical activities. This was developed by serving as an artillery officer and a battalion surveying officer. He was the only junior officer of his battalion who had ever worked on a surveying party so was assigned a job which he liked. He participated in the battle for Okinawa and returned to the U.S. in November 1945.
Mr. Haley entered the University of Kentucky Department of Mining and Metallurgy in June 1946 and graduated in August 1949 with a B.S. in Mining Engineering. However, he had a strong interest in Civil Engineering and Architecture, which persists to this day, and took two courses in Architecture, which was an elective area of Civil Engineering at that time at UK. While studying in UK, he was a member of Sigma Nu social fraternity, president of the Student Chapter of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and President of the Men’s Glee Club.
His career after graduation started as a Management Trainee for the West Kentucky Coal Company, in Madisonville, followed by a year with an engineering firm, then as Chief Engineer of the Uniontown Mining Company, and back with West Kentucky Coal as Assistant Chief Engineer. He was Superintendent of a coal mine in Oklahoma for the Lone Star Steel Company, and then was employed in technical service for blasting materials with the Spencer Chemical Company. He joined the faculty of the UK College of Engineering on October 1, 1966 and remained there as Associate Professor and then Professor of Mining Engineering in the Civil Engineering Department until July 1981. He became a full-time consultant with the title of Senior Vice President of the CSX Mineral Development Company and CSX Minerals, Inc. of Huntington, WV until August 1985.
Since that time he has been self-employed as a consultant and engineer residing in Danville, KY. His hobbies are instrumental music, handyman around the house and reading, particularly historical novels and history. He is one of the first members of the Advocate Brass Band of Danville and is the oldest member. He is married to the former Elizabeth Ann Stoll of Morganfield, KY, also a UK alumna, and enjoys time with her three children and seven grandchildren. He stays in contact with his two children by his first marriage and visits them in Madisonville, KY.
Mr. Haley is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Kentucky, a member of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers. He also is a member of the Society of Mining Engineers of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and an emeritus member of the Society of Explosives Engineers.