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Nashville, TN Age 78 April 6, 2011 Pat Hayes led his life his way, focusing on other's needs. One time Pat's sister gave him an expensive jacket. He loved it and looked handsome in it. A few weeks later she asked where it was and he said that he'd "lost" it. He had given it away, as he did almost every material possession which came through his life. His brother and sister bought him a car. Where was it? He loaned it to a friend who needed it--for months. Pat was a family-oriented person who kept relatives in touch with each other: mother and father, brother and sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, niece, nephews, aunts, cousins, and he made them the most important persons in his life. Next were his many friends for whom he was always doing something, always helping. Pat led an adventurous, questing life, and tried to get his friends and family to join in on his adventures. Frequently they did. In his 30s, as a Scout leader, he put together a caravan of a supply truck and 10 motor homes with 100 Boy Scouts, and mothers or fathers, and took the whole crew to Cape Canaveral, FL for the Apollo 15 space launch. This 1971 launch, the fourth mission which put men on the moon, was a trip of a lifetime for many of the Scouts. Pat arranged five follow-up such Scout trips and he himself attended many space launches, his final time to our country's historic last launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on May 14, 2010. He was by then confined to a wheelchair, but he went, and took a friend and two young children. On all his trips he somehow always arranged for VIP seating. Camping trips, spelunking, ball games in his youth, then gatherings for friends as he aged. He initiated and planned, and people followed and had fun. Soon after his last trip to Cape Canaveral, more health problems ensued and proliferated. Time after time, Pat valiantly fought illness and overcame, but finally he succumbed and it ended. His youthful attitude is what his nephews most remember; he knew how young people thought and his presents satisfied the young's desires. Pat had a knack for giving presents, small and large, both material and non-material, such as a positive, outgoing attitude. He tried to cheer others up as he himself stayed cheerful, against the odds. Pat was born on May 25, 1932 to the late Anderson Boyd Hayes and Margaret Louise Lauper Hayes. He attended the University of Tennessee, but remained an avid Vanderbilt sports fan, which he had to do since his younger brother Larry was hailed as a football star at V.U. Hayes Street in Nashville is named after Pat's great-great-great-great-grandfather, Oliver Bliss Hayes, whose daughter, Adelicia Hayes Acklen, built Nashville's Belmont Mansion, now the home of Belmont University. Belmont was originally Ward Belmont, a girl's school, which Pat's older cousin, Alice Reaver Hayes Brachey, attended. Pat served his country during the Korean War. He was drafted into the Army, but was able to enroll in the Air Force instead, where he served four years. He was a 33rd degree Mason, was employed at Avco as an engineer, and also served as an insurance investigator. He was always interested in health care, was a paramedic and an owner of a Memphis, TN company supplying paramedics. Pat, an avid computer user, served as family historian and compiled a book of photographs for the family, and a book of treasured family recipes, some several generations old. He will be missed, especially by his five nephews, Eric Hayes Petty, Esquire (wife Sharon; children, Jason, Jessica, Laura, Emily); Dr. Damon Hayes Petty (wife Jennifer; children, Evan, Margaret, Damon II); Boyd Hayes Petty, (daughter, Hannah); Larry G. Hayes, Esquire (wife Sheryl; son, Larry III, daughter, Hannah); and niece, Melissa Hayes Baker (husband Robbie; children, Eleanor, Hayes). He is also survived by his brother, Larry Gene Hayes (wife Ann); his sister, Priscilla Hayes Petty (husband Gene Paul), and by his aunt, Marie Dickerson. Pallbearers will be the nephews above, plus Robbie Baker, Harvey MaGee, Wayne Dickerson, William Hirshbrunner and Steven Yokley. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Boy Scouts of America. Visitation with the family will be from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9th at the Hadley Chapel, 1700 Hadley Avenue, Old Hickory, TN, followed by the service at 2 p.m. Burial will be in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery. Pax aeterna, our peacemaker Pat. PHILLIPS-ROBINSON FUNERAL HOME, (615) 262-3312. www.phillipsrobinson.com Published in The Tennessean on April 8, 2011 | ||
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