Vera Electa Hays

VERA ELECTA HAYS Funeral services for longtime Cortez resident, Vera Electa Hays will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, May 6 at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at the Cortez Cemetery. Reverend Bud Rousett will be officiating. A visitation has been scheduled for Thursday, May 5 at the Ertel Chapel from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Vera was born on February 24, 1907 to Erton Timothy and Bertha Loretta (Bryant) Folts. She passed away on Saturday, April 30, 2005 at the Vista Grande Nursing Home at the age of 98. Vera was born at the Willow Flat Ranch near Odell, Oregon. She was born in a snowstorm and by the time the doctor got back to Hood River, he wrote February 26th on her birth certificate. She has shared both birthday’s with her family and friends. She attended schools in Hood River including two years of high school staying with her aunt and uncle instead of riding the train back and forth. The family moved to Eugene, Oreg. in 1923 where Vera finished high school and attended two years of college at the University of Oregon. During the summers she would work at the Cloud Cap Inn on Mount Hood, cleaning cabins and serving meals. During the summer of 1927 she met John Lorenzo Hays who worked as a maintenance worker for the Oregon State Highway Dept. He was attending Oregon State College at Corvallis, Oreg. They married on Nov. 12, 1927 at Eugene and left immediately for southern California where they were to make their home. On August 29, 1928 a son, Donald Grant Hays was born and two years later on October 16, 1930 a daughter, Vera Jean Hays was born. They were both born in San Bernardino, Calif. Surviving Vera are her children, Dr. Donald G. Hays and wife, Marty of Palm Springs, Calif., and Jean DeGraff Winbourn and husband, Jack of Cortez. She leaves her grandchildren, John and Gayle Hays of Auberry, Calif., Vicki and Kim Smith-Hays of Ann Arbor, Mich., Scott and Melanie Hays of Yorba Linda, Calif., Amy and David Cromwell of Sebastian, Fla., Charles and Pat DeGraff of Avondale, Ariz., Jack and Pam DeGraff of Glendale, Ariz., Tim and Cyndi DeGraff of Bismarck, N.D., Linda and Mike Sanchez of Red Mesa, Colo., Carol Lee and Vern McElwain of Flagstaff, Ariz., and James Winbourn of Denver; and her great-grandchildren, Kate Hays, Trevor Rich, Danica Hays, David Hays, Jordan Smith-Hays, Tiffany DeGraff, Bailey DeGraff, Joshua DeGraff and Jacqueline DeGraff, Doak Belt, Dodi Belt, Dusti Belt, Lee Ann Terliamis, Kirk Roberts Kym Roberts and Mitchell McElwain; and her great great-grandchildren, Krystin and Kyle Roberts, and Garret and Cale Roberts. Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, John L. Hays; siblings, Mert, Vern and Laura Mae; and one granddaughter, Elizabeth. Memorial contributions can be made in Vera’s name at Madison House.