Connye Hays

Connye Klepper Hays went home to her Lord Jesus on May 31, 2025. She lived 92 beautiful years as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. She was married to her husband Jim for 67 years, leaving behind a legacy of loving faithfulness, living proof that the sacred covenant of marriage should be honored for better, for worse.

Connye wrote the book on outstanding motherhood. Her relationship to God came first, but family was a close second. She believed that raising godly children was her ministry to God and the church. She made sure her boys were bathed, had their hair combed, and were dressed in their Sunday best every Lord's Day. She quoted Scripture around the house constantly and would tell anyone about her love for Jesus.

Connye was born January 14, 1933 to Roy and Minnie Klepper in Clyde, TX. She played volleyball and basketball and rooted for the Bulldog football team which included her brothers RV, Rae, Rex, and Richard. She and her sister Fannye Mae were members of the pep squad at Clyde High School.

After graduation in 1949, Connye moved to Abilene and worked for Southwestern Bell as a telephone operator. She married Jim on November 2, 1957 and they moved to Shamrock, Texas after he landed a job with El Paso Natural Gas Company. In October of 1958, they welcomed their first son, James Raegan. Their second son, David Martin, was born in September of 1960.

In late 1960, the family transferred to Jal, New Mexico where Jim worked at the EPNG warehouse. Connye stayed home to raise the boys to school age and then became involved as a room mother at school and a den mother with the cub scouts. She was involved in Little League and Babe Ruth League baseball as concessions manager and was the loudest fan when her boys came to the plate.

When the sons went into junior high and high school, Connye attended every football and baseball game and every track meet. Connye's family enjoyed frequent outings to Kermit Park, Red Bluff Lake, and Balmorhea Lake with the Gerald and Geneva Anderson family and the Hubert and VaNell Smith family from church and their old friends from the Panhandle, Jerry and Marilyn Mounce.

Connye and Jim relocated to Hobbs, New Mexico in 1986 before retiring to Abilene, Texas in 1989. As members of the Baker Heights Church of Christ, Connye and Jim ministered for 23 years at University Place Assisted Living Center as Worship Coordinators.

Connye was a lifelong member of churches of Christ.

She is survived by her husband, Jim, of Abilene; two sons, Jimmy and wife Deborah of Salado, TX, and David of Galveston, TX; a grandson, James and wife Jessica of Denton, TX; along with numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

She is preceded in death by her parents, five siblings and their spouses, two dear nieces Susan Joyce and Barbara Miller, three special nephews Ronnie, Robert, and Russell Klepper, and the apple of her eye, granddaughter Amber Hays-Vandrey.

Special thank you's to Shelly Goodnight who served selflessly as Connye's caregiver in the last few years of her life, and to the doctors, nurses and care providers at Hendrick ICU and Hendrick Hospice Care.

Connye will be laid to rest at the Texas State Veterans Cemetery at a gravesite service, service times are pending.

 In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Hendrick Hospice Care, 1651 N. Pine St. in Abilene.

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I return. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21).