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Glenn Hays Johnson ’42

Glenn Hays Johnson ’42, September 27, 2009, in Portland, from a brief illness and Parkinson's disease. Hays grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and came to Reed, following the path of his parents, Glenn R. Johnson ’15 and Grace Hays Johnson ’15, who were members of Reed's first graduating class. Fearing that he might be drafted before he could see his family, Hays moved home after his freshman year. He then enrolled at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and completed a bachelor's degree in sociology, before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a glider pilot trainee. After the war, he went to New York as an employee for the Royal Bank of Canada. There, he also rekindled a friendship with artist and teacher Evelyn Brown, whom he knew from UNC; they were married for 25 years. Hays served in the Korean War, after which he earned a PhD in sociology and social psychology from New York University. He taught at the university and at Smith College, and later was a consultant for industry and the armed forces at NEXUS in Santa Monica, California. He returned to Portland in the late ’70s. In 1987, he married Virginia Moore Coffman, who survives him. Survivors also include one son and six stepchildren. A second son predeceased him.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2010

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