Days of Our Lives has finally put Doug to rest with a touching memorial service and farewell. It’s also introduced a new legacy character with Doug Williams III, and tomorrow, Hope gets to meet her surprise nephew.

Then-Head Writer Ron Carlivati was actually inspired by Seaforth Hayes' own words. She revealed that he: attended the memorial at our church and asked if I would do that again, tweaked for the character. He said he couldn’t write anything better than what I had presented. And how could I say no to that? So I tried.

On Days of Our Lives, beloved patriarch Doug Williams passed away on Thanksgiving. Today the soap opera celebrates its 15,000th episode by honoring the character and the man who played him, Bill Hayes-and no one is celebrating more than the onscreen and offscreen wife with whom he shared his Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award,