MARSHALL AYERS SR.

Funeral for Marshall E. Ayers Sr. of Springfield, Ill., will be held at noon Sunday at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Chapel. Bishop Charlie Green will officiate, with burial in Lorimier Cemetery.

Friends may call at the chapel from 6-8 p.m. Saturday.

Ayers, 51, died Tuesday, March 31, 1998, near Osborn.

He was born March 11, 1947, in Essex, son of Lee and Odell Williams Ayers. He and Helen L. Smith were married Dec. 21, 1965, in Cape Girardeau.

Ayers had been a driver with ABF Trucking since 1972. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

Survivors include his wife; four sons, Marshall and Byron Ayers of Springfield, Ill., Paxton Ayers and Marcus Lowe of Cape Girardeau; four brothers, Joe Ayers of Cape Girardeau, Henry and Jerry Ayers of Texas, Charles Ayers of Jackson; three sisters, Hazel Jackson and Louise Colon of Cape Girardeau, Adell Nelson of Chicago; and six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother.