Gloria Jean Hays

Gloria Jean Hays was born in Gays Mills, Wisconsin, raised in the Kickapoo River Valley. Though she lived in the Twin Cities area for most of her adult life, Gloria proudly claimed her Kickapoogian roots. Her mother was a one-room school teacher in the valley and the family lived above her father’s hardware store until WWII. The family moved to Denver during the war where Gloria attended Morey Junior High and learned about big city life. Gloria lived on the family homestead after the war. She was a graduate of Gays Mills High School and attended college classes in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Her greatest pride was “raising four strong women.” She loved her family and especially enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Gloria gifted her family with the love of art, music, God, and people. She was also a dedicated daughter, sister, and friend. Grown children from neighborhoods she had lived in visited and brought their children to spend time with Gloria. She was a mother and grandmother to many wherever she went.

People were touched by her wit, positive attitude, and adventurous spirit. Her coworkers remember going into her office to get an uplifting laugh or boost of confidence. Caregivers, residents and friends tell how she lightened their spirits by her radiant smile and learned acceptance and gratitude. Her humor, which remained until the end, was quick, smart, and agile. Caregivers knew her adage well, “if you can’t laugh, you might as well hang it up.” She was a life-long teacher and learner; always up for a new escapade. If there was none to be had, she enjoyed observing people.

Music was her sustenance, whether playing piano, watching Boston Symphony Orchestra PBS performances on a staticky black and white television, singing in church choirs and the Minneapolis, Giving Voice Chorus, participating in singalongs with Dee or Carol at facilities, or enjoying Gloria-crafted Spotify playlists. She liked singing along with hymns and ballads from past to present. The last song she sang was, “The Garden” hymn which always made her smile for its description of being in communion with God. She called it the “Andy” hymn because as a girl she would giggle with friends while singing, “Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me.”

She worked at Whirlpool in Erie, PA, Sister Kinney with children who had polio, a hardware store and for decades at Food Producers in logistics where she made lifelong friends. In retirement she inspected properties for Molitor & Associates, assisted a child with autism as a PCA and became a passionate watercolor artist, paper maker and bookbinder. She volunteered for Special Olympics, and for women’s health and Alzheimer’s medical studies. She supported equality for women, non-military solutions, and human rights.

In her last years living with Alzheimer’s, she was supported by loving administrators, caregivers, and artists through Bloomington Presbyterian Home, Rakhma Peace House, Hopkins Open Circle, Alder Grad School, Giving Voice Choir, U of M nursing school, LifeSprk, Parks Place and St. Croix Hospice. Her family remains grateful for all who cared for her in the past years and especially those in the past weeks after contracting coronavirus.

She is preceded in death by her parents Harland Roger and E. Miriam Hays, siblings Roger Hays, K. Phyllis Carter and Rev D. Janet Hays, and grandson Caleb John Soderbeck.

Survived by Daughters, Jani “Lynn” Warner (Dwight); Jennifer Whaley (Scott); Jenean Kim; and Ava Jody Tamis McKnight. Grandchildren, Nathan Warner (Natalie), Ellis Warner (Ling Xu); Christopher Whaley (Stuty Maskey), Joshua Whaley (Holly), Katelyn Whaley; Gabriel Soderbeck (Zhanna Poltavetz), and Thaddeus Grace. Great-Grandchildren, James and Madison, Caden, Natalie and Anya, and Isabeal. Also survived by nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends. 

A lifelong UCC faithful, she was a member of St. Luke Presbyterian Church community. A memorial will take place here in Minnesota and interment with short graveside service in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. When friends and family are able to gather to celebrate Gloria, announcements will be made here, in the Star Tribune and the Crawford County Independent.

Services for Gloria are pending.

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