Mary Lorine Hayes, 86, of Winslow passed away peacefully at her home on March 25, 2018, surrounded by family and close friends. A viewing will be held at 12 p.m. followed by a Home Going Celebration at 1 p.m. on Saturday April 7, at the First Baptist Church in Winslow, located at 411 N. Warren Ave. in Winslow with Superintendent Roy C. Hadnot officiating. She was born Jan. 4, 1933, in Calhoun City, Miss., to the late Tom Echoles and Jewel Hunter Echoles. Mary (also known as Mama Hayes, Grandma Hayes and Madea) met and married her late husband Henry Lee Hayes Sr. in August of 1949 in Sunflower, Miss. After several years of being in Mississippi, in 1954 they decided to follow other family members and move to Winslow. Mary was a homemaker and one of the best cooks ever. She worked for many years at Winslow Head Start as a cook and teacher alongside the Jackson five’s grandmother, Crystal Jackson. Mama Hayes being the cook that she was had her own soul food restaurant for a few years. After retiring from Head Start, Mary then started working with her husband delivering the mail on the reservation for over 35 years. Mary and her husband taught their children how to delivery the mail, after a couple of years they decided that the children could do it on their own, then Mary and Henry Lee retired from the mail. Mama Hayes loved her church family with which she was a member of the Faith Temple C.O.G.I.C from the time she came to Winslow. She served there faithfully. She enjoyed talking about the Lord and praying for all those she came in contact with. Wearing her stylish hats to church was her thing. Mama Hayes had a thing for making her grandchildren laugh with her funny stories. Those kids would sit in her room for hours listening to the stories she had to tell and laugh so hard they would be crying. Her favorite saying was, “I don’t know what you talking about I don’t have no ugly grandkids.” Mama Hayes leaves to cherish her memory her daughters, Mildred (Jack) Dunham, Mary Alice Hayes, Brenda Graham, Louise (Elvis) Sweet, each of Winslow; two goddaughters Kathy Mathews of Phoenix and Wendy Scott of Baltimore, Md.; son, Henry Lee Hayes Jr. of Winslow; godson, Dr. Stacy Robertson of Apple Valley, Calif.; her one and only brother whom she loved very dearly, Thomas Earl (Dorothy) Echoles, of Winslow; brother-in-law, Buddy Norwood of Sunflower, Miss.; 27 grandchildren; 40 great grandchildren; and four great-great grandchildren; and her best friend whom she talked with on the phone two to three times a day, Mary (Polly) Hadnot. Preceding her in death is her husband, Henry Lee Hayes Sr,; son, James Hayes; daughter, Sherry Hayes; sisters, Lila Thomas, Ruthie Washington, Scottie Norwood, Essie Lee McMath and Jerlene Echoles; her brother-in-law, LC Thomas; and granddaughter Tiana M. Hayes. Greer’s Mortuary of Winslow handled the arrangements.
