Donald E. Hayes Jr.

Donnie was born on July 14, 1962, in Chambers County, Alabama to Donald E. (Gene) Hayes, Sr and Freddie Brown Hayes. He graduated from LaGrange High School and received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University in 1985 while working with the co-op program with Milliken. Shortly after graduation, he accepted a position as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, DC where he also attended the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. He also managed to play in three slow-pitch softball leagues, sometimes changing out of his coat and tie into his uniform at stoplights along the National Mall. He graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1990; and he and Missy were married three weeks later in Georgetown, SC on their way to settling in Atlanta to raise their family (and cheer on the Braves with season tickets through their worst-to-first season plus twenty more years.)

Donnie practiced intellectual property law in both private practice and as in-house counsel with Bell Labs for over a decade when he shifted gears and earned his teaching certificate. He taught as a long-term substitute at Greater Atlanta Christian School before accepting a full-time position as a math teacher for DeKalb County.

Donnie taught at both the middle school and high school level and began as an assistant coach for the Lakeside High School baseball team, eventually becoming head coach for the varsity Vikings and an assistant coach for the softball team. He also coached rec league teams with Rehoboth Baptist Church, TYSA soccer, and multiple travel ball teams through Ninth Inning. Somewhere in the middle of all his activities, he found time to travel with his family to coastal South Carolina, Costa Rica, New York, and Disney World. Donnie was a friend to everyone he met and bumped into someone he knew pretty much anywhere he went.

Following a stroke in 2019, Donnie retired from teaching and coaching to focus on regaining his health and strength. He put his legendary stubbornness to work with therapies directed by the Shepherd Center and their outpatient facility at Shepherd Pathways. He truly loved and admired his Shepherd family and had been looking forward to being strong and healthy enough to start as a volunteer there to help in their mission.

Donnie is survived by his wife Melissa (Missy), their children, Tyler, Lucas, and Andrew Connor Hayes of Atlanta; his parents, Gene and Freddie Hayes of LaGrange, GA; siblings David Hayes and Alison Vinson, also of LaGrange, and multiple nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. at H.M. Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill Chapel, 4550 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30319.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Donnie to the Shepherd Center Foundation, 2020 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30309, or online at https://give.shepherd.org.