Buford Ayers

SIKESTON - Thomas Buford Ayers, 65, died at 1:45 a.m. Oct. 7, 2001, at Missouri Delta Medical Center.

Born Aug. 25, 1936, in Sikeston, son of the late Thomas Wylie and Violet Lee Wilburn Ayers, he was a member of the Miner Baptist Church, a board member of the Community Sheltered Workshop in Sikeston and a board member of the E.C. Barton Lumber Company in Jonesboro, Ark., and a member of the Missouri National Guard. He managed the Barton Lumber Company in Sikeston from 1967 until his retirement in 1995.

On Aug. 30, 1958, he married Freeda Naomi Reeder who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: two sons and daughters-in-law, Thomas Buford and Rebecca Rose Ayers Jr. and Kendall Reece and Elizabeth Suzanne Ayers of Sikeston; three brothers, Ralph Ayers of Sikeston, Eugene Ayers of St. Charles and David Ayers of Maplewood; one sister, Melba Cannon of Lake of the Ozarks; and three grandchildren.

Friends may call from 5-8 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Miner Baptist Church. The Rev. Mitchell Jackson, pastor of the Miner Baptist Church; the Rev. Joe McCullough, pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church; and the Rev. Carl Addison, pastor of the Tanner Street Church of God will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Garden of Memories in Sikeston with full military honors.

Pallbearers will be: Tony Futrell, Doyle Roach, Harold Bouland, Ted Noles, Jack Chapman and Lloyd Hill.