Knoxville, Tenn.
Sara Aileen Owen Hayes, 100, died February 29, 2016, at her residence in Knoxville, Tenn.
Born in Fulton, Ky., Sara received her bachelor’s degree in organ from Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky., and her master’s in piano pedagogy from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She was a beloved piano teacher for over 40 years in the Oak Ridge area, played piano for her Methodist-minister father’s tent revivals as a young girl and continued playing for her Sunday school class into her 90s.
Sara moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II. She was an active member of First United Methodist Church from the 1950s. She was most proud of her latest project, orchestrating the placement of stained glass windows in the church’s chapel. She was an active member of the Holston Rose Society, winning many awards for her arrangements. She was featured numerous times in the local papers for the roses she grew and her beautiful yard. Her roses were sought after and given both for functions at church and special occasions across the city. She placed a large arrangement of roses in the church’s narthex most Sundays for several decades.
Sara was preceded in death by her husband, Paul F. Hayes.
She is survived by daughter Sara Hayes Taylor of Columbus, Ind.; daughter Melinda Hayes Hoffman of Greenville, S.C.; son Paul Michael Hayes and wife Gayle of Knoxville, Tenn.; six grandchildren, Jennifer Hoffman Pickens of Anderson, S.C., Sara Hoffman Jurand of Mount Pleasant, S.C., Johanna Hoffman Inman of Greenville, S.C., Ashley Taylor Abner of Columbus, Ind., Meghan Hayes Creech of Nashville, Tenn., and Paul Michael Hayes of Denver. Sara was ”Great” grandmother to six, Owen, Greyson, Meghan, David, Eli and AJ, the newest great-grandbaby.
The family requests memorials be made to the First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge, Tenn., or Amedisys Hospice of Knoxville.
The family will receive friends from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2016, at First United Methodist Church, Oak Ridge, Tenn., with the funeral service following at 1:30 p.m. The Rev. Stella Roberts will officiate. Interment will follow at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.
An online guest book may be signed at weatherfordmortuary.com.
