It is with great sadness, that the family of the Reverend Christopher Thomas Hayes III of Culpeper, Virginia, announces his passing at the age of 90 on October 6, 2026. He died peacefully, surrounded by his loving wife, Julie, and his sons. Christopher Thomas Hayes III, known to his family and friends simply as Tom, was born on June 29, 1936, on the family farm in Warrenton, Virginia. He was the eldest of two children born to Elizabeth Barret and Christopher Thomas Hayes II. From his years on the farm, Tom developed a lifelong appreciation for hard work and family. On December 26, 1964, he married Julie Ann Olson, beginning a marriage that would span more than six decades. Together, Tom and Julie built a life marked by faith, family, tradition and service.
In his professional life, Tom joined the United States Air National Guard in June 1958. He went on to fly fighter planes for the Arizona Air National Guard from 1961 to 1967. In 1967, Tom joined Pan American World Airways, a career that took him across the United States and Europe and gave him the opportunity to see the world. After being furloughed in 1977, Tom answered a call to the priesthood. That calling took the family to Blacksburg, Virginia, where Tom attended Virginia Tech University, and later to Ambridge, Pennsylvania, where he attended Trinity Anglican Seminary. Following seminary, Tom was ordained to the priesthood and began 25 years of ministry in parishes throughout Virginia, Texas, and Upstate New York. Tom was recalled by Pan Am and served as a Flight Engineer and First Officer on the Boeing 747 until Pan Am ceased operation in 1991 and resumed his ministry.
For Tom, being a priest was never simply a profession. It was a calling and a way of life. He loved the people entrusted to his care and found meaning in walking alongside them through life’s most important moments – in times of joy and celebration, in times of sorrow and uncertainty, and in the ordinary days in between. His ministry was rooted in faith, compassion, and a desire to serve. After 26 years of ordained ministry, Tom fully retired in 2016, but his faith ran deep and was an integral part of his life and his relationship with Julie.
Perhaps Tom’s greatest ministry was the one he lived at home. Tom was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He and Julie raised three sons: Christopher Thomas Hayes IV, married to Penelope (Lomerson) Hayes, of Hendersonville, North Carolina; Michael Roy Hayes of Richmond, Virginia; and David Aric Hayes, married to Krista (Smith) Hayes, of Keller, TX. He was a proud and loving grandfather to four granddaughters, who were truly the lights of his life:.
Outside of the church, Tom was happiest when he was doing something with his hands or spending time with the people he loved. He could often be found in his garage, tinkering with a project or bringing new life to a piece of antique furniture. He loved fishing, especially when he could do it with his boys. These simple pleasures were never really about the furniture or the fish but the relationships he had with the people sitting with him. Tom leaves behind a family who knew him not only as a priest, but as a husband, father, grandfather, brother, teacher, storyteller, fisherman, and friend.
He leaves behind congregations whose lives he touched, people he baptized and confirmed, couples he married, families he comforted, and those with whom he shared the joys and sorrows of life. Most of all, Tom leaves behind the love of his family and the faith that sustained him throughout his life. We give thanks to God for the gift of Tom’s 90 years – for the life he shared with Julie, for his sons and granddaughters, for his service to our country and for his many years of ministry. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Services will be held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Culpeper, Virginia. Memorials can be sent to Trinity Anglican Seminary, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and the Culpeper Rescue Squad.