Hayes, Walter

WALTER HAYES (1880‒1952) was the first son of William Thomas Hayes, who was the only son of John Nelson Hayes by wife Margaret Gay.  In the late 1890s, Walter left Monroe for Danville to work in the Riverside Division of Dan River Mills where he spent his entire career. He started as a carpenter and eventually worked in the Engineering Department. His grandson Jack "Jay" Hayes believes he was “hourly” his entire career. He married Nancye Lewis Williamson Hayes in 1905. They had three children:

▪ Frederick Amiss Hayes 

He went by “Amiss,” which is a Virginia surname. He disliked having it misspelled so much that he changed it himself to Amos. The family lost contact with Amiss after he left home in anger in the l920s. He had one son, Landon, now deceased, by his first wife, and another son, David, by a second wife. We believe there are daughters by a third or fourth wife. He evidently inherited the John Nelson Hayes genes. 

▪ Minnie Helen Hayes 

Helen married several times but had no children.  

▪ Jack Irby Hayes Sr. 

Jack's middle name came from Stonewall Jackson Irby, one of his mother’s relatives. He went by Jack. Jack Irby Hayes Sr., was an accountant and office manager for most of his career, ending as an auditor with the Virginia Department of Sales and Use Taxes after serving for a few years as the head of the Sales and Use Tax Division in Danville, Virginia. His wife, Minnielee Conner Hayes, was a public school teacher and guidance counselor. They were happily married for 37 years before Jack's untimely death in 1977 at 57 years of age of a massive heart attack.  

Jack and Minnielee had three children: 

-Nancy Jo Hayes died of whooping cough in 1941 at five months of age.
-Jack Irby Hayes Jr. called "Jay" since childhood, he was born August 13, 1944.  
-Hayes, Walter Eugene called "Gene" since childhood, he was born on May 18, 1949.