Huck's Founder Frank Bayley Passes Away

CARMI, Ill. — The convenience store industry is saying goodbye to Frank Bayley, co-founder of Huck's Convenience Stores. Bayley passed away Saturday, Oct. 18 at the age of 86.

Bayley and his business partner Bob Martin formed Martin & Bayley Inc. in 1960, and began opening supermarkets in small southern Illinois towns, eventually branching out to Kentucky and Tennessee. They opened the first Huck's convenience store in Grayville, Ill., in 1974.

Martin passed away March 30, 1998. On March 27, 2001, the Martins and the Bayleys sold the company to the employees, making it a 100-percent employee-owned company.

According to the Courier Press, Bayley also developed the nonprofit organization Karing for Kids, and he was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War.

Services will take place 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 in Carmi. A post on Huck's Facebook page noted that all Huck's stores will be closed Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The Carmi-based c-store chain operates 113 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri.