(Aug. 23, 2015 - by Harold Goerzen)  Hardy Hayes was sure the Lord had a special ministry in store for him when he cheated death several times while serving in Europe late in World War II.

Just 18 years old when he enlisted in the Army in the spring of 1943, he sailed to England in April 1944 and was assigned to General Patton’s Third Army. After leaving Southhampton on July 30, 1944, his division arrived at Utah Beach on Aug. 6, 1944.

Close Shaves with Death

His first contact with the enemy came on Dec. 26, 1944, in Saarlauten, Germany, on the Siegfried Line. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945, having some close calls with death, including being wounded while preparing to cross the Rhine River.

When V-E Day marked the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945, Hardy was in Hannover, Germany, “facing the Russians across the river,” he wrote. “The entire 95th Infantry Division was up to full strength with some replacements that had arrived from the U.S. only a few days earlier.”

Hardy returned home via train, arriving at his parents’ place in Phoenix, Ariz., to a hero’s welcome on July 4, 1945. Just weeks later, V-J Day ended the war in Japan following the dropping of two atomic bombs. Little did he know that in only three years he would be traveling to Japan as a missionary, beginning a 40-year career in Christian broadcasting.

Hardy Vinson Hayes Jr. was born on June 22, 1924, in Nashville, Tenn., to Hardy and Susie May Hayes, growing up in northern Kentucky together with one sister, Alma Joyce.

At the age of 12, Hardy responded to an invitation to accept the Lord as his personal Savior. He was nurtured by a caring pastor and became firmly grounded in the truth, sustaining him later in military and Christian service.

In 1946, after being discharged from the Army, Hardy enrolled in John Brown University (JBU) in Siloam Springs, Ark. Friends encouraged him to work as an announcer at the campus radio station, KUOA, and he did.

“I first met Hardy in the fall of 1946 shortly after I was discharged from the U.S. Navy,” recalls Steve Hunter, a retiree with Reach Beyond. “Hardy and I were both attending JBU, we were both taking classes for radio broadcasting and we both worked at KUOA. We became good friends. He was a great radio announcer. I was studying engineering. We continued to stay in touch through the years. He will be greatly missed.”

Postwar Missionary Service in Japan

While a student of JBU, he was challenged by reports of students who had served in the military in Japan, and ultimately he and a classmate applied to and were accepted by Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (FEGC—now SEND International) with the expectation of establishing a missionary radio station in Japan.

With a bachelor’s degree in communication and speech, Hardy moved to Japan in 1950. That’s where he met Lois Simmelink, a missionary serving in hospitality and clerical work at FEGC’s headquarters in Tokyo. On Oct. 3, 1950, they were married in the Emperor’s refurbished dairy barn.

As laws were formulated it was established that no alien would be granted a license to own and operate a radio station. Hardy and his friend, along with four other men from two other mission organizations, founded Pacific Broadcasting Association and began recording gospel programs to send to FEBC in the Philippines, then beamed back to Japan.

Within a short time, skilled Japanese Christian men were identified, became associated with the ministry and ultimately were able to assume all the responsibilities of broadcasting—a ministry that has continued to this day.

Following three years in Japan, the Hayeses returned to the U.S. where their only child, Mary Sue, was born in 1954. She was diagnosed with Down syndrome and would spend her adult life at Shepherds Ministries, a Christian home for mentally disabled persons in Wisconsin, until her death in January 2014.

Two Stints with Reach Beyond

God then directed the Hayeses to join Reach Beyond, spending four years on the staff of Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador. Hardy established and directed the station’s international program division. He also launched and produced the radio program, “DX Party Line,” that was especially popular among shortwave hobbyists.

After their first term, Hardy and Lois returned to the U.S. due to health concerns with their daughter. He served briefly as U.S. director at the mission’s international headquarters (then in Miami, Fla.,) before deciding to pursue other radio opportunities.

He managed Christian radio stations in Orlando, Fla., and Green Bay, Wis., followed by 11 years at Northwestern College Radio (now University of Northwestern-St. Paul) in Minnesota as director of operations for nine radio outlets in five locations.

Reach Beyond President Wayne Pederson, then a budding 21-year-old broadcaster, was serving as announcer/program director at KTIS, the radio station owned and operated by the college.

“Hardy Hayes mentored me on how to be a manager,” Pederson related. “He was blunt, plain-spoken and down-to-earth. But he really cared. Hardy was the sandpaper that God used to smooth my rough edges and prepare me for a life of ministry. I love him for it.”

In 1979 the Hayeses decided to rejoin Reach Beyond, this time serving for 10 years with Inspiracom (formerly the World Radio Network), a partner ministry with a series of stations along the U.S.-Mexico border. Lois did clerical work while Hardy was the director of operations.

During this time the network established Spanish-language radio outlets in Brownsville, Laredo and Corpus Christi, Texas. Hardy also helped Rio Grande Bible Institute (RGBI) start its own campus station, Radio Esperanza (Radio Hope), in Edinburg, Texas.

Retirement Years

In 1989 Hardy and Lois retired and moved to Bradenton Missionary Village in Bradenton, Fla., where Hardy spent hours daily servicing computers for fellow residents.

“He worked hard on getting the computers up and working,” agreed longtime friend Betty Harkins. “Hardy made it a personal task to get computers upgraded and refurbished when needed. Together, Hardy and Lois set up computers in the duplex next to them so missionaries could use that room if they didn’t have their own computer. He encouraged everyone to learn to use computers and was able to get them for the missionaries at a reasonable price.”

Reach Beyond retirees Doug and Darlene Peters remember Hardy as a friend, fully committed to the work of the Lord and passionate about Christian radio. “We kept in touch by email and telephone for a number of years and would often visit Hardy and his wife, Lois, when our travels brought us to Florida,” they said. “He served the Lord faithfully even into his retirement years. In poor health during his later years, his life was filled with a lot of peaks and valleys.”

Harkins described Hardy as having a “satisfying life, serving the Lord in significant radio ministries that have reached a multitude of people of many nationalities with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Former missionaries Dick and Norma Benoit, who had known the Hayeses since they first arrived in Ecuador, said Hardy had “many stories to share and certainly remained active until shortly before he went to be with the Lord.”

Hardy died on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the age of 91, following a lengthy illness. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lois, on May 9, 2005; his second wife, Alice, on June 4, 2012, whom he met at the Village; as well as his daughter, Mary Sue. He is survived by his third wife, Carol.

When asked which experience was especially satisfying for him, Hardy replied, “Seeing people being blessed and growing in the Lord through Christian radio and relating to other members of the body of Christ.”

Hardy will be buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Fla., at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 24. He will be interred next to his first wife, Lois, and will receive military honors for his military service during World War II.

Sources: Reach Beyond, Bob Kracht (RGBI), Lois Hayes