Ronald Jackson Hays was born in Urania on August 19, 1929. His father, George H. Hays had moved to LaSalle from Sabine Parish in the 1920s. His mother was Fannie McCartney. Her family had moved from Mississippi in the 1870s and had been in the parish for a couple of generations. George and Fannie were married in Caldwell Parish in 1927. After Ronald was born, they had a daughter, Patricia Katherine Hays. George died in 1949, and in 1952 Fannie married Daniel Webster “Webb” Newsom. She died in 1979.