Hayes, Mike

1953 - 2021

Mike Ray Hayes passed from this life on Saturday, Oct.2, 2021 at Doctors Hospital. Mike was born in Columbus, Ohio to the late Delbert and Lola (Lester) Hayes. Mike always had a love for the outdoors and met his wife, Kathy, while working at Badlands stables where they took care of horses and gave horseback riding tours. Mike spent many years with dear friends at their family farm working the land and enjoying time with the horses and cattle. Mike was able to also share his love of the farm with his children where they learned the value of an honest day’s work and the contentment that brings. Mike enjoyed being a father and spent weekends taking his children to movies, the farm and to visit with their grandmother. Mike was often a big kid himself and never seemed to run out of energy when it came to spending time with his children. He never

missed a field trip and was

considered the “fun dad”

that all the kids flocked to.

Before his mom “Gertie, Gertie, Gertrude” passed he enjoyed spending time on her front porch, feeding the squirrels and having a piece of “noxious peach pie”. Mike worked 50 years at Jeffery Mining Co. and was considered their

unofficial historian as he

was the only remaining original employee. He was an amazing storyteller, who never ran out of stories to tell, was an avid scrabble player and enjoyed regular scrabble matches with his family. Mike was a talented craftsman who could fix just about anything. Mike was very intelligent and enjoyed learning new things, as well as reading. He always seemed to know a little something about everything, what ever topic of conversation came up, Mike was able to give some insight and would usually pair it with some sort of oddly known fact or humorous insight. Mike passed along his wit and charm to his daughter, Jess, and his roughed good looks and sense of humor to his son, Nick. Mike is survived by his wife of 37 years, Kathy (Compton) Hayes; son, Nick Hayes; daughter, Jessica Hayes; three sisters, Carolyn Ayers, Delores Teal and Wanda (Steve) Davis; brother, Del Hayes; and the apple of his eye, granddaughter, Alina Hayes. Visitation will be held on Friday, Oct. 8 at Newcomer, SW Chapel, Grove City from 4-8pm and the funeral service will be held Saturday, Oct 9, at 1pm at the Funeral Home with Pastor William Pellum officiating.