Hayes, Edward Pearce

Reverend Edward Pearce Hayes (1895-1979) was a missionary who spent thirty years in China. He was born on July 18, 1895, in Hazen, Maryland, to Reverend Edward and Ella Pearce Hayes. He attended Johns Hopkins for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, graduating with a Bachelors in 1916 and a Masters in 1921. He also received a Bachelors of Divinity (B.D.) from Drew Theological Seminary in 1917 and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity (D.D.) from Western Maryland College in 1945.

In 1917, he was appointed to organize a YMCA at Fort Howard. He later established a YMCA headquarters at Fort McHenry and opened branches at smaller posts around the Baltimore Harbor. He was the YMCA War Work Secretary from 1917 to 1919 and then the first full time YMCA Secretary at Johns Hopkins, from 1919 to 1921. He was also licensed to preach in the First Church Baltimore, now known as Lovely Lane Church.

Lily May Anderson Hayes (1895-1988) was married to Reverend Edward Pearce Hayes and a missionary who spent a little under thirty years in China. She was born on November 6, 1895, to Charles Horace Anderson and Clara Amelia Nixdorrf Dowell. She attended Peabody Conservatory of Music after graduating from Western High School in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1914. Edward Pearce met Lily around 1914. They were married in 1917 at the First Church Baltimore. They had three children, Ann Dowell Hayes (Valois), Edward Bruce Hayes, and Donald Pearce Hayes.

In 1921, the Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Foreign Missions sent both Edward Pearce and Lily to Foochow, Fukien Province in China. He was appointed as the District Missionary of the same area. Edward Pearce Hayes supervised the development of churches, schools, and hospitals, including raising funds for their support. He also served as a middle man in negotiations between bandit bands and lawful authorities; was on the committee serving one million lepers in the province; and was the superintendent to three hospitals and the head of three schools. Lily Anderson Hayes taught English and music at the local high school while in China, in addition to entertaining guests and hosting traveling missionaries.

From 1936 to 1952, Edward represented Chinese churches at General Conference. He stayed in China throughout World War II, while Lily did not. Lily rejoined him in 1947 for the Centennial Anniversary of Methodism in China and they stayed in there until January 1951. While most missionaries left China during the Communist Revolution in 1949, they stayed for two more years to serve as liaison to government officials in order to assure an orderly transfer of educational, medical, and social institutions. After their time in China, Edward Pearce took two study trips around Asia, in 1952 and 1955.

In 1952, he raised money to open the Japan International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. Later, he helped to raise funds for many different projects in Southeast Asia. In 1965, he became the West Coast representative for the Ludhiana Christian Medical College and Hospital in Northwest India. In 1962, he was the recipient of the Freedoms Foundation Award. He retired fully in 1971 due to illness and on June 27, 1979, he passed away of a stroke before his 84th birthday. Lily Anderson Hayes passed away in her sleep on January 23, 1988 at the age of 92.