Ellen Gay Rader Hays, 59, of Kittanning went to be with the Lord on Tuesday after a very long illness with scleroderma. She died at home with her family at her side.

Born Dec. 22, 1945, in Butler, she was the daughter of the late Howard and Hazel Gay Hindman Rader.

She attended Covenant Life Fellowship in Butler. She and her husband founded Ministries of Eden in 1983, and she was the director of the prayer center. She also was the director of the Daughters of Intercession and the Grandmothers' Prayer Group, and she organized the National Day of Prayer for Armstrong County for the last several years, including 2005.

She is survived by her husband, Herbert Edwin Hays, whom she married on June 19, 1964; a son, Stephen Craig Hays of Carnegie; and three daughters, Marci Lynn Lockhart and her husband, Richard, of Kittanning, Lori Ann Brozowski and her husband, Mathew, of Durham, N.C., and Jane Elizabeth Corral and her husband, Jeronimo, of Carnegie; four sisters, Rita Paul of Saxonburg, Connie Shields of Big Fork, Mont., and Beverly Jackson and Denise Franklin and her husband, Robert, both of Florida; and two brothers, Howard Rader Jr. and his wife, Connie Jane, and Bruce Rader and his wife, Kaytha, both of Lakeland, Fla. Also surviving are 12 grandchildren; Autumn, Travis, Sue Ellen, Ralph and Kelley Lynn Lockhart, Emily, Carolyn, Renee, Timothy and Andrew Brozowski and Emanuel and Rodrigo Corral.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Nancy Rader.

HAYS - Friends of Ellen Gay Rader Hays, who died Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005, will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. todayFuneral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home with the Rev. Matthew Olsen officiating. Burial will be at Butler County Memorial Park, Butler Township.Donations may be made in her honor to Ministries of Eden Inc. Ford City, PA 16226.For more information go to www.bauerfuneralhome.com.