Jude 2

I thought some of you may know Betty and would want to know of her death.

http://obits.al.com/obituaries/Birmingh ... =128106708

Betty (Stockdale) Hayes was one of the great church musicians. Hearing her sing and play the piano was like listening to an angel.

It was she who inspired me, a young pre-teen boy from the coal-mining hills of Alabama, to want to play the piano more than anything. Her style influenced me tremendously, but more importantly, her life impacted mine, always for the better. I never left her presence without being challenged to be more Christ-like.

Betty's dad pastored the church I attended when we were teens. During that time the church purchased an organ and Betty showed me how to play it. I served as organist at that church until 1989. We sang together with another girl in a trio during that time. She was a wonderful christian girl then and continued to be an example of Jesus and his love all her life. Betty was a great blessing with her music and her life. She will be greatly missed.

What a fantastic example of christianity.

She took me in for a while once when I was trying to change my life around.

She was one of my Sunday School teachers when I was in my late teens. I have been in her house many time. What a wonderful joy and love for the lord one felt when around her.

I remember her from the 70's. Didn't her first husband die in an accident?

Yes, Rahab. Her first husband, Richard Hayes, was killed in an accident.

The parsonage that I live in was donated by the Hayes family to the Southside Church in Somerset.