David Allen Hayes was born May 23, 1931 in Detroit and passed away May 6, 2009.

Hayes was born and raised in Detroit, joined the military and served his country for four years, sustaining a bullet wound to his leg. He moved to Alaska in the early 1960s and lived in Valdez and Whittier, where he endured the ’64 earthquake.

David then moved to Anchorage, where he met and married Beverly Ball, the love of his life. The family moved to the Peters Creek area and then moved to Tok, where they enjoyed moose hunting, riding snowmachines and playing cards on cold winter nights. They then moved back to Peter’s Creek in the late 1970s, where they built their home and started their ceramic shop, which they later turned into a porcelain doll shop. David retired from working for the government in Anchorage at the petroleum distribution plant for Elmendorf. David lost the love of his life, Beverly, in 1997 and then moved to Sterling, where he enjoyed the peaceful setting of his home on the Kenai River as he lived out his final years. He also enjoyed his friends at the senior center and in his Sterling neighborhood.

David will be missed by his family, who will never forget his quoting: “Laughter is the best medicine.”

The family wrote: “May our beloved David rest in peace.”

He is survived by his sisters, Barbara Husted and Joanne Mainhood, and brother Henry; three step-children, Craig Rausa of Wasilla, Mitch Rausa and his wife Cindy of Wasilla, and Beverly Fish and her husband Butch of Clark Lake, Mich. Also surviving are grandchildren Wesley, Kimberly and Jeffrey Rausa of Missouri; Cory, Jordan and Micah Rausa of Wasilla; Gary Bower of Wasilla; Laura Bower of Washington; and Patrick Rourke of Chicago; and seven great-grandchildren in Missouri and Alaska.

A family celebration of life was held May 8 in Wasilla. Arrangements entrusted to Valley Funeral Home, Wasilla.