Susan May and Marion Hays corresponded regularly from 1983-1996 after the death of Hays' husband, Congressman Lawrence Brooks Hays. Marion Prather Hays was born to Thomas and Gila Prather, November 20, 1896, in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas. After the sudden death of her father, Hays, her mother and her younger sister Doris moved in with their grandmother, Annie Wickersham. After completing high school, Hays was accepted to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. There, Hays served as secretary of the 1915 freshmen class, Vice-President of the 1916 sophomore class, and Vice President of the 1919 senior class. Additionally Hays was active in various clubs including; Phi Beta Phi sorority, Tri Kappa Club, Skull and Torch, and Youth Women Christian Association (YMCA). While working on her English degree, Hays taught at the University Training School located on the University of Arkansas, campus. After graduating from college in 1919, Hays returned home to teach English at Fort Smith High School and on February 2, 1922, she married Lawrence Brooks Hays who had also been a student at the University of Arkansas. Prior to the birth of their two children, Betty and Marion "Steele", in Little Rock, Pulaski County, the couple lived in Russellville, Pope County. In 1942, Brooks was elected to the United States Congress winning the fifth district seat, relocating the couple to Maryland where she became a newspaper columnist and a Sunday school teacher. Hays died on December 19, 1996 in Potomac, Maryland.