Otis R Hays

Mr. Otis Robert Hays, 95, of Seymour, passed away peacefully on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at Schneck Medical Center.

Born in Gilliam, Louisiana in 1925 to Robert Otis and Cerise Stokes Hays.

Otis was a loving husband and father. He was a World War II veteran and served in the U. S. Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater as a tank driver. Following the war, Otis began a career in pipelining, which would become a lifelong avocation. Beginning as a laborer, then a side boom operator, he became a “tie in man”; a skill for which he received nationwide recognition. Over the years, he worked for J.P. Neil & Co., Cap Con and Delta Gulf Corporation among others. His younger brother Jack Hays, who preceded him in death in 2010, was also a lifelong pipefitter and the two worked together for much of their careers.

When the Texas Eastern Pumping Station in Seymour exploded and caught fire on November 19, 1948, Otis was among the pipeliners who came to repair the damage. It was during this time that he met Patty Hays, who worked at the Colony Chef, a local diner. The two fell in love and married on February 16, 1949.

Otis was a member of Lufkin Masonic Lodge #669 AF & AM, 32 degree Scottish Rite and First United Methodist Church.

Otis is survived by his wife of 71 years, Patty (Ackeret) Hays; two sons, Mark Hays and Brett Hays; daughters-in-law, Belinda Hays and Rebecca Hays; granddaughters, Taylor Ulrey and Madison Hays; sister-in-law, Betty Hays; and niece, Jackie Hays Jackson.

Memorials may be written to First United Methodist Church or Ackerets Chapel Cemetery Maintenance Fund, in care of Voss & Sons Funeral Service.

Please visit the funeral home website at www.vossfuneralservice.com to leave condolences to the family. Cards and notes of condolence will be most welcome and can be sent to the funeral home.