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Christina Doris Fair “Chris” Hays, 99, was born in Magazine, Arkansas, on June 2, 1918. She died June 6, 2017 in Haralson County, Georgia, in the home of her daughter Sorrel Doris. She is predeceased by her husband, John Walter Earnest Hays and her parents, Lewis Willis Fair and Lillie Agatha Sorrels Fair.

Christina and Ernest married in 1935, beginning their life together in San Francisco. After the birth of their son, John, they moved to Memphis where children Sorrel and James Ray were born. In 1944 Earnest was sent to Chattanooga to manage a plant for Stewart Fine Foods on Main Street. The family lived in the Patten Hotel for months while searching for a house, scarce during WWII. They lived in Rossville and finally built a house in East Ridge. The children attended Central High School and the University of Chattanooga. Ernest started Hays Real Estate, and Christina and son John joined him in the Rossville business. The couple were lifelong members of McFarland Memorial Methodist Church. Ernest and Christina lastly moved to Chickamauga, Georgia, across from the Park Tower. Ernest died in 1994.Christina then lived in Dalton, Georgia, at Royal Oaks retirement community for 11 years. She bought a house in Tallapoosa, Georgia in 2007, to be near her daughter Sorrel, and lived independently until she was 96. She designed an apartment in Sorrel’s cabin home on a woodsy lake, and lived there until her death ,enjoying bird life and ripples on the water and clouds above the tree line.

Christina’s family includes the children, John Lewis Hays of East Ridge, Tennessee, Sorrel Doris Hays of Haralson County near Tallapoosa, Georgia, and James Ray Hays, of Houston, Texas, and their spouses, Judy Hays, the late Marilyn Ries, and Karen Lawson Hays; ten grandchildren and spouses (Chris and Darla Hays of Ocala, Florida, Heather and Jeff Roberts of Dallas, Texas, Rik and Michelle Hays of Atlanta, Robin Hays of Chattanooga, Ron Hays, Will and Callie Hays of Houston, Seth and Morgan Hays of Singapore, Josh Walter Earnest Hays of New York City, Ronald Troy Lawson Hays of Houston, and John Pierce Ellis Fair Hays of Houston, and nine great-grandchildren (Emmy and Lily Roberts of Dallas ,Westley and Jefferson Hays of Houston, Alli Hays of Pensacola, Florida, Liya Elliott Hays of Singapore, Gabrielle Hays Conover and Aaron Conover of Chattanooga and Hilton Head, and Tyler Hays; and step-granddaughter,Tamsey Moore and step-great grandson James Lawrence “Jay” Moore, III, of Richmond, Virginia. Christina told her children that all she ever wanted growing up was to be a homemaker, an aspiration in which she excelled. She cared for her husband, her children, their companions and offspring, and the sundry others whose lives intersected the family. When something did not suit or meet her standards she would simply give a small smile, and say, “Oh, well,” then move on with life. She was beautiful to the end, with family members visiting her in her last days.

Graveside services will be held Saturday at 12:00 noon at Tennessee-Georgia Memorial Park.  To share expressions of sympathy, visit lane-southcrestchapel.com.

Arrangements are by the South Crest Chapel of Lane Funeral Home & Crematory, at the end of historic Missionary Ridge, Rossville.

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