John F. Hayes, a local attorney, died January 14, 2010, at Promise Regional Medical Center, Hutchinson, at the age of 90. He was born in Salina, Kansas, on December 11, 1919, the only child of J. Frank and Helen Dye Hayes.

Hayes graduated from Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson Community College, Washburn University and Washburn Law School. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity where he and nine fraternity brothers formed Gnip Gnop, a group that met one weekend every year for more than 60 years for golf, tennis and friendship, and established a scholarship at Washburn Law School.

Hayes served as Captain in the United States Army with service in New Hebrides Islands and the Philippines.

Hayes was a founding partner of the Gilliland and Hayes law firm, which now has offices in Hutchinson, Wichita, Lawrence and Overland Park, Kansas. The firm celebrated its 50th anniversary on December 15, 2009.

In 1952, Hayes served as a delegate to the National Republican Convention and later served six terms in the Kansas House of Representatives where he was chairman of the Insurance and Judiciary committees and was Majority Floor Leader from 1975 to 1977. He was credited with creating Sand Hills State Park, supporting passage of court unification and the state's no-fault insurance law, improving the Kansas State Fair and establishing the Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson.

He was a long-time director of Central Bank and Trust, Hutchinson, and Waddell and Reed Group of Funds, Overland Park, Kansas.

He was listed in Who's Who in America for more than 40 years, a Life Member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws serving for more than 30 years, and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Bar Foundation. He also served as president of the Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce, Hutchinson Rotary Club, Hutchinson Town Club and Prairie Dunes Country Club. He served as president of the Reno County Bar Association and the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel. He was a member of the American Bar Association, Kansas Bar Association and the Kansas Bar Foundation. Hayes also served as a director and district vice-president of the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce and vice-president of the Hutchinson Symphony.

On August 10, 1950, he married Elizabeth "Betty" Ireton. She survives. Other survivors include: son, Carl, Joplin, Missouri; daughter and son-in-law, Chandler and John Moenius, Prairie Village, Kansas, and five grandchildren.

Rosary will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Hutchinson. Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the church. Friends may sign his register 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson. The casket will remain closed. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Washburn University Law School, 1700 College, Topeka, Kansas, 66621. Friends may visit www.elliottmortuary.com to leave a condolence for the family.