He was born in Burlington, Washington in 1933, his parents were George and Florence Hayes; he passed away April 30, 2025, in Mount Vernon, WA.

He attended grades one thru six in Burlington and in 1943 he moved to Mount Vernon. Jerry went to Lincoln grade school and graduated from Mount Vernon High School with the class of 1952.  He was quite active in sports where he earned ten high school letters in football, baseball and track. He did attend one year at Skagit Valley College.

He went into the Army for two years from 1953 to 1955 and most of his time was at Fort Benning, Georga with the corps of engineer and motor pool.  After returning from the service, he went to work for his parents with Hayes Floral for 17 years. In 1972 he started working for Contel twenty years, as a warehouseman. Then he worked for Sellen Construction Co. in Seattle for a short time, as a laborer. He was a member of the Electrical Workers Local number 89 in Everett, WA, also the labors union local 242 out of Seattle, WA. Jerry was a retired volunteer Fireman for Mount Vernon with 25 years of service.

He was a member of the Mount Vernon-Burlington First Baptist Church. He was a post member of the Mount Vernon Lions Club and a life member of the Elks Lodge #1604 of Mount Vernon. Jerry always enjoyed having coffee with his co-workers every week from the telephone co. He met and married Sharon Christy from Bellingham WA, in 1961 and they have been married for 64 years. Jerry has about three hobbies, one is collecting Fire Dept items, two is collecting old telephone items and three is his yard, he really enjoyed working in his yard with fuchsias from his greenhouse. The last few years, he had a small lawn mowing service, where he helped families with their yards.

Jerry's wife Sharon still lives in Mount Vernon, he had two boys, Brian Mount Vernon and Brad (Dina) of Millcreek, five grandsons Nick (Morgan) of Boise ID and Tyson of Mount Vernon, Alex, Bernie and Connor, and two great-granddaughters Olivia and Parker of Boise ID. Cousin Joyce Coddell of Burlington, WA.