Peter Gynt Hayes

1955 - 2015

July. 9, 1955 ~ Sept. 15, 2015
Mr. Hayes (as he had been called more times in his life than any other name) died of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) on September 15, 2015. Mr. Hayes was born in San Jose, Calif., on July 9, 1955 to Ronald Grimwood Hayes and Dorothea Joan (Sturgess) Hayes. He is survived by his wife Thi-Ly, their son Lucas, and by his two sisters, Vanessa and Heidi, by his two stepsisters, Vicki & Shelby, and by nieces and nephews Jesse, Zack, Aiden, Anais, and Toni Rene. Though he never saw enough of them, he is also survived by many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Mr. Hayes led an extraordinary life. His father, a life-long adventurer, introduced him to the wilderness at a very young age with long hikes in remote places. Mr. Hayes climbed all over the west for fifty years, and that all began when his dad tied him to the end of a rope and lowered him off a rock face when he was 8. Dad then rowed him down on his first river trip when he was 13, and that wild, cold, high water trip down the Rogue River in Oregon planted the seed for Two days after graduating from Sylmar High School in Los Angeles in 1973, Dad gave him his first ride to the freeway to kick off a 300+ mile hitchhike up to Altaville, Ca., the headquarters for the California operations of Wilderness World, his dad's river company. This was the start of a river guiding experience that was to extend over four decades.
Mr. Hayes rowed his last commercial trip in 2002, taking Tom Hanks and his little family on a 6-day adventure down the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho. Mr. Hayes rowed about 75 trips down that river, 45 on the Rogue, four trips down the Grand Canyon and dozens of others along other wild rivers in the west. Ever the Guide's Guide, Mr. Hayes logged many days teaching new guides the ever-important Interpretive Program for the river corridor.
In the fall of 1973 Mr. Hayes moved to the little ski town of Bear Valley, Ca., where he learned to ski and race, and ended up staying for 7 consecutive winter seasons. He wore many hats there while skiing every day: dish washer, window washer, prep-cook, waiter, bellhop, firewood delivery, snow-shoveler, bartender, and his favorite, Professional Ski Patrol. Mr. Hayes was the first to represent Bear Valley in the NASTAR National Finals held at Aspen in 1976, and he was the first on the Patrol with an EMT.
In 1988, a year after recovering from a catastrophic fall that crushed both heel bones, Mr. Hayes became a Professional Rock Climbing Guide. At his best, he flashed 5.12b sport climbs & .11c traditional climbs. Over the next five years he taught over a thousand clients the art and skill of technical rock climbing. On one of those trips he met his lovely wife, Thi-Ly, and one year to the day after they met he proposed. They moved to Utah in 1992 where their fabulous son, Lucas, was born two years later.
Mr. Hayes earned both his BS in Biology and his teaching credential at UCLA. He taught his first class in the summer of 1985 and ended up teaching science in secondary schools for 28 years. The last 18 years of his teaching career were spent at Rowland Hall- St. Marks School, Utah. His demanding, rigorous…yet entertaining…freshman Biology class became a right of passage for many students, and Mr. Hayes remains, arguably, as one of the most influential teachers in that school's 140+ year history. He taught a lot about being a good person, and about how to learn. His Motto was: "Get your work done as best you can so you have more time to HAVE FUN!"
Mr. Hayes deeply loved his little family, and he will always be with them, ever encouraging them to have adventures and to find the joy in life. He'd like to give special thanks to the great people up at the University of Utah Medical Center: Dr. Scholand , his pulmonologist and THE specialist in IPF at the "U"; Dr. Tom Miller; Bill, Liz and -especially- Mirko at Pulmonary Rehabilitation; the entire Medical Center Valet Parking crew; and very special thanks to his Hospice Nurse, Jennifer Demko, who skillfully guided him to the last door in the house.
In lieu of flowers, please contribute a check to "University of Utah", with the memo specifying The Mr. Hayes Research Fund for IPF. This is a 501(c) 3 tax-deductable donation, where every cent goes directly to Dr. Scholand's lab. Call Brian Davis, Development Director, 801-581-7606, for details.
A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, September 26 at 2:00 pm at Cathedral Church of St. Mark: 231 East 100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111.