James Nathan Hays

James Nathan Hays passed away at home on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at the age of 86 of natural causes under the watchful care of his loving wife, Virginia. Jim was born on April 9, 1925 in Fresno, California to Ray Wilson and Marie Christina Hays. He attended Roosevelt High School, the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford Law School and proudly served as a U.S. Navy pilot during World War II. Upon graduation from Stanford Law School in 1950, Jim returned to Fresno to begin his practice as an attorney in the family law firm of Hays & Hays. Upon the retirement of his father from Hays & Hays, Jim joined the law firm of Stammer, McKnight, Barnum and Bailey as a partner and remained there throughout his career. He logged the final hour of his 61 year law practice just one day before his passing. Jim loved his legal career, his family, and time spent at his cabin at Huntington Lake. A known fact among those close to him was Jim's undying love for his black lab hunting companion. A great day for Jim was sitting in a duck blind with ducks swirling overhead, doing their best to evade his attempts to take them home for dinner. He enjoyed loading his own shotgun shells and would count his shots in the duck blind to make sure he never wasted one. With a glint in his eye, he would laughingly ask fellow hunters, "where else can you have so much fun for a quarter?". Jim was predeceased by his brother, Robert "Smokey" Hays.

Jim is survived by his wife of 60 years, Virginia Hays; daughters Christine Slater and her husband David; Ann Walorinta and her husband Randy; Lynn Kyle and her husband Dave; son, Michael Hays and his wife Shirley; grandchildren, Kelsey Salzberg and her husband Jonathan, Kate Walorinta, Cody Kyle, Tyler Kyle, and a new grandson expected in February; two sisters, Lee Lassotovitch and her husband Sasha; Sally O'Neill; ten nieces and nephews. A memorial mass will be held at St John's Cathedral, 2814 Mariposa, Fresno, CA, on Friday, December 9, 2011, at 10:30 am. Graveside services will be held privately. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that remembrances be made in Jim's name to the Nancy Hinds Hospice, 1416 W. Twain, Fresno, CA 93711.