Jean Elizabeth Hays

1923 - 2010

Jean Elizabeth Browne Hays, 87, Sanford, NC, formerly from Bartlesville, OK died at 5:25 p.m. Tuesday, October 26, 2010, at Central Carolina Hospital.
Jean Browne Hays was born in Cincinnati, OH, on March 9, 1923. She was the daughter of Nicholas Edward and Frances Hall Browne. Jean was reared in Cincinnati and graduated from Mt. Notre Dame Academy in 1940. She obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from Purdue University in 1943. Following the completion of her degree, she became a research chemist for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, OK. She spent a short time in Borger, TX and then returned to Bartlesville and worked in the research facility. She married George Edgar Hays, her husband of 55 years, on May 6, 1946; she was married in and attended St. John Catholic Church in Bartlesville.
Jean was a Girl Scout volunteer beginning shortly after her move to Bartlesville and continued to volunteer until she moved to North Carolina in 2001. She received many awards for her service, and was the recipient of the Thanks Award in 1977, the highest award given from the Girl Scouts and the 1985 Bluestem Award. She was also a Cub Scout Leader. She received the League of Women Voters Barbara McCoy Award for Service To Children in 1991. She received an Award of Merit from The Knights of Columbus in 1994. She actively volunteered with the Washington County Habitat For Humanity. She received the Jim Gillie Outstanding Citizen Award in 1995 from the Bartlesville Area Chamber of Commerce for her dedicated service to her community.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Nicholas Edward and William Hall Browne, Sr., and a sister, Frances Louise Browne Anderson; her husband George, and two sons, George Campbell Hays, (Camp), and Nicholas Edward Hays. She is survived by daughters Susan Hays Sakurada (Sudi) and husband Matthew of Sanford, NC, Jessie Ann Hays Haug and husband Dan of Austin, TX, Barbara Jean Hays and husband Todd Williams of Borger, TX, Teresa Jo Hays of Tulsa, OK, Donna Hays Collins and husband Harold Dean of Jenks, OK, Cynthia Louise Hays (Cindy) of Middleburgh NY, Christine Michelle Hays Frederic and husband Keith of Baton Rouge, LA, Karen Hays Stamm and husband Walter of The Woodlands, TX, Laura Jane Hays and husband Steve Coleman of Alto, MI; sons William Ogle Hays and wife Kelly, of OKC, OK, Charles John Hays of Ponca City, OK, T. Monty Hays and wife Teresa of Friendswood, TX; 26 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, November 2, 2010, at the Arnold Moore Funeral Service Residence. The Mass of Christian Burial will be conducted at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, in the sanctuary of St. John Catholic Church with the Reverend Festus Maliwa as the officiant. Interment will follow at the Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements are through Miller-Boles Funeral Home in Sanford, NC and The Arnold Moore Funeral Service in Bartlesville, OK.
Memorials may be made to the Bluestem Girl Scout Council of Eastern Oklahoma, 2432 E. 51st Street, Tulsa , OK 74105.