JAMES RANDALL HAYES

Mr. James Randall “Jim” Hayes, age 76 of Santa Rosa Beach passed away Monday, July 1, 2019 in Sacred Heart Hospital Covenant Care in Pensacola.  He was born September 12, 1942 in Boaz, Alabama the son of Bertis Wesley Hayes and Toma Lee Kendricks Hayes.  After leaving school he was employed in the spacecraft industry, Lockhead/Martin and other contractors for a quarter of a century.  After leaving that job, he and his wife both became employed with Chrysler Corporation upon their arrival with modern plants in Alabama.  Later, he moved to Florida to be near his family.   Jim was a man born during the depression following World War II.  In the early forties, nothing was thrown away, everything had value and could be repurposed which created in Jim a love of antiques.  According to the family, he could buy an old pickup for five hundred dollars and drive it another hundred and fifty thousand miles without the first sign of trouble.  Jim was a golfer, and a darn good one at that; his claim to fame being he once played golf with the great Arnold Palmer.  Always the busiest of busy men, if he wasn’t golfing he was tinkering with his treasures of discarded furniture and other collectibles, which everything was to him just that, collectible. An avid Auburn fan, this generous, trusting, loving, caring, kind, God loving man was part of the fellowship at Willow Park Church in Santa Rosa Beach.

Among survivors are his daughters, Lisa Robinson and Don.  Janet “Wendy” Ridley and Harvey Ellis and son,  Jamey Patrick Adams and his grandchildren, Hunter Abbott and Brittany, Haley Abbott and Anthony Walker, Lance Robinson and Cassandra and Nicholas Adams.  His great grandson, Anthony Oden Walker and the Mother of his children, Janice Adams also survives.

A Celebration of Jim’s life will be held the weekend of his birthday, September 15, 2019 at 2:00 P.M. at Don and Lisa's home in Point Washington.  There will be a picnic style lunch with lemonade and homemade ice cream.  This is a time for family and close friends and the dress will be casual.  There will be a tree planted in his memory.