Obituary of John Bruce Hayes

Dr. John Bruce Hayes, 81, loving husband, father and grandfather, passed away on December 19, 2016. He was born in Los Angeles on March 29, 1935, the second son of Harry and Mildred Hayes. He attended University High School in West Los Angeles and the University of Redlands as an undergraduate. He earned a B.S. from UCLA in 1957 where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He graduated with his MD from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, interned at San Francisco County General Hospital, and completed residency at Kaiser Hospital, San Francisco. It was there that he met and married the love of his life, nurse Janet Hieb, and the two were married in 1961. In 1964 John and Janet moved to Simi Valley where John specialized in family medicine, serving the community of Simi Valley with the West Valley Medical Group, Family Health Care Medical Group, and finally Alamo Hills Medical Group. Dr. Hayes started his practice in an era when doctors still made house calls, medical records were written by hand, and spending time listening to patients was as important as healing them. His warm, friendly, and caring approach to medicine truly set him apart. He would rather spend time stopping a sick child from crying than meeting with his accountant. Even as changes in the health care system changed his profession, he clung to the belief that regardless of means, every person deserved adequate medical care. After practicing medicine in Simi for exactly 50 years, Dr. Hayes was quoted at his retirement as saying, “I have taken care of the children of some of the kids I’ve delivered….” As both a physician and father, he was recognized as the extraordinary man that he was, beloved by both his patients and his family. Dr. Hayes is survived by his wife of 55 years, Janet; son Keith Hayes, wife Andrea, and granddaughter Elizabeth Grace; son Brian Hayes, wife Amy, and grandsons Connor and Mason; brother James Harry Hayes, and wife Christine; sister Elizabeth Hayes Turner, and husband Albert. He is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, and cousins. A celebration of Dr. Hayes’s life will be held at 2 pm on January 7, 2017 at Rose Family Funeral Home, 4444 Cochran St, Simi Valley, CA 93063.