Bob Hayes

Robert “Bob” Hayes was born into a pioneering family. His grandfather “Doc” Hayes took a commission as the Northern Lumber Company’s physician in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. Doc’s son Eden married the sawmill owner’s daughter Florence Carey and along came Bob in 1937, then Dennis, Sharon, and Harry. The blizzard of 1938 brought snow drifts to the top of the telephone poles and every summer lumberjacks fought the mosquitos and sweat that made up Sagola, Bob’s home tome. Sagola and nearby Channing, literally grew from railroad spurs that pumped the white pine and the oak to build Model T’s, factories and homes of Chicago, Detroit, and beyond.

The UP lumber boom went bust by 1910 and by 1940 Carey’s sawmill shut down and Doc had to buy the Company Store to save it. Bob’s Dad Eden then ran the store. When asked about the conditions of his childhood Bob would say, “that’s the way it was. We didn’t know any different.” You got up in the morning and loaded the stove to heat the freezing house. You did what you had to do. The Hayes name is still famous in Sagola and Channing for their service but the UP struggles to keep its own. Eden and Florence moved to Whitehall to make a better living.

Crystal Falls was the middle of tiny towns big enough to field a high school. Bob did well with academics and loved sports his whole life. He was a good student, class president, and prom king. Bob graduated from Crystall Falls High School. He then enrolled at Western Michigan University and met “Big Nell” who would become Mrs. Hayes three years later. Nelda Sue Lane was from South Lyon. They met at the union and Bob had the desk job in her residence hall. Bob landed his first big sale. Nell would say, he was persistent.

Bob knew trees and logging being from Sagola. What else to study? He earned his bachelors in paper science in “Paper City.” Kalamazoo had the highest concentrations of paper mills in the world. Wood pulp is used in a lot of things. Bob’s first job was at Panelite one of the early makers of plastic laminate. Nell, small in stature, was a natural kindergarten teacher. You might say Bob and Nell were frugal if you’re one of those people who don’t wash their foil or save the plastic liners from cereal boxes. They weren’t miserly but that’s where they came from. That’s what it took. A Panelite height chair served grandchildren at their home on Hickory Point well into the 1990s.

Bob’s always been a folksy friendly guy. “I’m Bob Hayes” preceded his handshake and an easy smile. After Panelite, Bob found a home selling paper treatment chemicals and did it well for 40 years. The Rock provided. In his company car he’d make his rounds to paper mills throughout the Midwest. Nell taught while raising Teresa, Todd, and Julie, but hung it up when Joni was born, making four kids to raise. Many of his customers became life-long friends. “Big Nell” got her name at industry conventions where Nell was the life of the party.

Bob was an accomplished golfer and played avidly all the way to 86 with a remarkable seven holes in one! The friends and the golf went hand in hand. Bob took it serious but never too serious, working compliments and conversation into each round, this writer’s favorite guy to golf with. When you golfed with Dad, he was always early, happy to go, and greeted everyone as he went by name. He was that kind of guy.

Hickory Point made a good home with close neighbors and kids playing until the fireflies flew and the street lights glowed. Bob made it a point to be back from work in time to make high school games, coach Todd’s little league baseball, and be in his chair for the Tiger’s games. The whole family was in Detroit to see the Tiger’s win the World Series in 1968 – a station wagon full of kids in a throng of people with horns blaring. The weeks were busy around the house and years passed with the school schedule. Weekends were the time if you had an iffy favor you were after: ask Dad for it, if the tigers were winning. These are the years lived faithfully day after day, year after year, that made Dad the Rock. Devoted to his wife and kids; wage earner; reliable, steady; orderly; secure. He turned down three job promotions to avoid uprooting the family. They stopped asking. He lived with his choice, that’s who he was.

He served his church too, a founding member of St. Catherine of Siena Parish. Like golf, he’d be ready early, and his famous “let’s go” repeated until the kids were loaded into Sunshine, the yellow station wagon, and Nell finally arrived. When it came to departures, Nell and Bob were the Odd Couple. Off to mass every Sunday he taught the kids by example. He was an usher, eucharistic minister including to the sick at home, and in retirement, Meals on Wheels. Bob would literally deliver. He never said a lot about his faith, his was quiet piety.

He found time to enjoy life: golf, the Tigers, Lions, and U of M. He’d catch a Tiger’s home game every year - and he traveled. Bob and Nell hit nearly every state, six continents, and sailed by Antarctica. Nell was that classic educator who believed in travel for proper development of the person. Each year a station wagon trip would go to Maine, the Grand Canyon, Iowa, St. Louis, or wherever. This was before the internet or cell phones. Arrive in town, in the dark, and drive around until you found a hotel with the pink neon sign saying “vacancy” through the window. Bob would let Joni out of the back, lug the cooler off the station wagon as the kids raced to see who got to pull the seal off the toilet. Holiday Inns were grand living! But Grand Canyon was enough of those cross-continental junkets with six people in a station wagon. That trip ended in his famous quote, “That’s it. I’ve had enough. We’re going home!” A saner Summer tradition followed at the Pinestead Reef on Grand Traverse Bay. Lots of fun there after you got Nell packed with everything and the kitchen sink. After Pinestead we moved around but he’d pay for it and make you welcome, a blessing for now four new families.

He was a dutiful Dad and helpmate to Nell, chasing coupons across town to save 20 cents; serving as her sous chef for holiday dinners; the elf, wrapping Christmas gifts; whatever it took. Bob lived his marriage vows through good times and bad in sickness and health. Sickness got Nell after 51 years but her Rock nursed her right to the end when she died in the family room.

It’s shocking to lose Dad, you just never imagined it would happen. Even after his stroke you just figured he’d get through it, because the Rock always did. His death brings a flood of loss but then gratitude as you ponder all that was built on his goodness, his graciousness. The security, the reliability, he was always there, through it all, for his wife, his kids, his grandkids, the church. He met the high standard of love. We are humbly grateful. He loved like you. Now we give him back, to you oh Lord we commend his spirit. Amen.

Bob died on March 9, 2026. He is survived by his four children: Teresa Patterson and her husband Patrick Patterson; Todd Hayes; Julie Lantz and her husband Tom Lantz; and Joni Champion and her husband Joe Champion. He was a proud grandfather to Emily Gray and her husband Sam Gray, Alicia Patterson, Lauren Patterson, Brennan Champion and his wife Lauren Champion, Lydia Champion, Griffin Lantz, Caden Lantz, Quincy Lantz, and Erin Hayes. His family also looks forward with joy to the arrival of a great granddaughter, Gray, expected in April. He is also survived by his sister, Sharon Strouse, and his brother, Dennis Hayes. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Nelda Sue Hayes; his mother, Florence Hayes; his father, Eden Hayes; and his brother, Harry Hayes.

Visitation will be held Monday, March 16, from 2-3 PM at St. Catherine of Siena Parish. Mass will be celebrated at 3 PM. A reception and additional visitation will follow at Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes, 6080 Stadium Drive, Kalamazoo (269) 375-2900, where food, drinks, and stories will be shared. Guests who are not able to attend Mass are encouraged to attend the reception. Celebrate Bob’s life online by sharing your favorite stories and photos on his dedicated webpage at BetzlerLifeStory.com. Memorial contributions may be made to Meals on Wheels.