Hays was initially diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2015 and at the time had been given a dire prognosis, with his doctor telling him he might be dead by Christmas of that year. But surgery and chemotherapy put his cancer into remission until 2022, when it returned. Despite more treatment, the cancer had spread to his lungs by the summer of 2023 and eventually he went into hospice care.
This past fall, he wrote a health update asking for prayer, knowing the cancer would likely soon take his life, and sharing how his faith was shaping his approach to life in his dying days.
“Over these past nine years, Judy and I have become practiced in looking death in the face,” he wrote. “We continue to trust that we are in the hands of a merciful God who loves us. And we continue to anticipate the power of the resurrection. It’s a hard thing to know with some certainty that I will not be here to watch my grandchildren grow up. But as in years before, we remain grateful for each new day in which we can join the Psalmist in proclaiming: ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’”
Hays is survived by his wife, Judy, and children Christopher and Sarah.
According to an update posted on CaringBridge, Hays will be interred in Oklahoma City, with services to follow at a later date at McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville and at Duke.
This article originally appeared here.
 at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, from pancreatic cancer. Hays was 76.){kind=link}