Robert William Hays

Robert William “Bob” Hays of Marietta, renowned educator, author, consultant, and community leader; loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather; and passionate patriot, passed away peacefully on Friday July 16, 2010. Bob was born October 17, 1925 in his grandparents’ Grant Park (Atlanta) home. He was the oldest of the three children of his late parents Calvin Samuel Hays of Atlanta and Mary Elizabeth Green Hays of Gainesville GA. In 1928 he moved with his parents to Brookhaven GA and graduated from North Fulton High School (Atlanta) in 1942 while playing in the band and competing in track. At age 16 he enrolled at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. After one year at PC, he obtained his father’s consent to enlist in the U.S. Navy apprentice seaman program and was assigned to the midshipmen’s school at Northwestern University in Chicago IL. He then graduated as a “90-day wonder” ensign at age 18 with orders to the Pacific amphibious fleet. He served 39 months’ active duty, mostly as an officer on board LSM-238 and highlighted by the landing of Marines, equipment, and supplies in the invasion of Iwo Jima. At age 21, he was promoted to Lt. (j.g.) and executive officer/navigator. After the war, Bob returned to PC where he majored in English and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1948 as class valedictorian. While at PC he met the love of his life, Rebecca Guy “Peggy” Copeland, who grew up in Clinton and was “the prettiest girl in South Carolina.” After working as a writer and announcer at radio stations in Clinton and in Thomaston GA for two years, he and Peggy were married on June 15, 1950 at the First Presbyterian Church in Clinton. It was a marriage that would last the rest of their lives. They promptly moved to Chamblee, GA where Bob began his career in education, teaching night classes at the “Technical Institute”, then a division of Georgia Tech. For two years, he and Peggy worked at Lockheed Georgia Co., Bob as a supervisor of training course development and Peggy in the “tabulating” (accounting) department. As a voracious learner himself, in 1952 Bob left Lockheed to pursue his calling as a full-time teacher of technical writing and business communications at the Technical Institute. One year later he was named Head of the English Department, a position he would hold for 20 years. While teaching he earned a Master’s degree in English from Emory University in 1957, and was promoted to full professor. The Technical Institute was renamed the Southern Institute of Technology (“Southern Tech”) and the campus moved to Marietta in 1961, and Bob and Peggy moved to east Cobb. Over the next 24 years Bob influenced and enriched the lives of thousands of young people through his teaching, counsel and wisdom, and as a role model for the ideals of integrity, honesty, and decency. He was instrumental in the establishment of what is now Southern Polytechnic State University as an independent unit of the University System of Georgia. He was a pioneer in the field of technical and business communication, authoring and co-authoring four acclaimed books and more than 130 industry-published articles. Bob was a Lifetime Member of the international Society of Technical Communication, which named his article “A Rapid Debugging Technique” as one of the field’s twelve most important articles in the past fifty years. He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1992, the highest honor conferred by the international STC and attained by less than one percent of its members. For more than 35 years, Bob was also a successful self-employed consultant for more than 90 business, industry and government clients. He traveled extensively, conducting seminars and training programs in communications from San Diego to Saudi Arabia. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Bob was highly engaged in service to the community in Cobb County. He was a dedicated Kiwanian for 40 years with the Marietta club, the Metro Marietta club, and a Charter Member of the East Cobb Golden K club for which he served as Program Director from 1991 to 2006 and from which he received the Distinguished Service Award in 2008. He served on the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army for many years (and a “bell-ringer” as far back as 1992), was Program Director for the Marietta History Museum, and was an active member of the Cobb Arts Commission. In 1994 the King Center presented Bob with its Community Services Award. He had a lifelong love of reading and poetry, was a member of The Georgia Poetry Society, and wrote a large number of poems, some of which were published by GPS. A long-time member of MENSA, Bob approached and related to everyone with humility, generosity, kindness, and grace. His interests ranged from astronomy to Zeus, but his first and constant loves were his family, his community, his country, and the sea. He is predeceased (2001) by his brother James Calvin Hays of Atlanta. Bob leaves behind his beloved wife of 60 years, Peggy; their three sons Michael Stephen, David Robert, and William Calvin, all of Marietta GA; granddaughters Haley Rebecca Hays of Kennesaw GA, Heather Adrianne Hays Klimowicz of Woodstock GA, Elizabeth Nicole Hays of Marietta GA, and Ansley Corinne Hays of Marietta GA; two great grandsons and a great granddaughter; and his sister Mary Elizabeth Hays Babcock of Vero Beach FL. A private internment is planned at the National Cemetery in Canton GA. Worship and memorial services will be Saturday July 24 at 2:00pm at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, 3125 Sewell Mill Rd., Marietta GA 30062 (770-977-2976). The family requests that memorial donations, if any, be made to The Salvation Army in Marietta or to MUST Ministries.

Robert William Hays

July 17, 2010