​Lonnie Edward Ayers, Sr

Lonnie Edward Ayers, Sr., 86, passed away Saturday, October 29, 2016, at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. He was born March 21, 1930, in Winding Gulf, WV, to Mary Barr Ayers and Ellis C. Ayers. Lonnie graduated valedictorian from Stoco High School. During the Korean Conflict, he served in the United States Army at Fort Monmouth, NJ, and Camp Gordon, GA, achieved the rank of corporal, and taught radio communications. After military service he attended North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. On September 25, 1954, he married Nora Jean Davis of Dobson. He was employed by AT&T Corp., subsidiaries Western Electric and Bell Telephone Laboratories, retiring after 39 years from AT&T Technologies (later Lucent Technologies). While employed by AT&T Corp., he graduated from Guilford College with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. An avid reader with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, he undertook numerous assignments in various locales, including White Sands, NM, El Paso, TX, Columbus, OH, and Hilversum, The Netherlands. He enjoyed working about his lawn and was especially fond of time with his grandchildren, whom he sought to inspire to learn through reading, natural curiosity, and discovery of their surroundings. Lonnie was predeceased by his loving daughter-in-law, Cheryl McKnight Ayers on September 29, 2012. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean Davis Ayers of Kernersville; a son, L. Edward Ayers, Jr. of Hickory; his grandsons, Lonnie Edward Ayers, III of Fenton, MI, and Scott William Ayers and his wife, Angela Joy Ayers, along with great-granddaughters, Mikaela Rose Ayers and Grace Raelynn Armida Ayers of Glendale, AZ; a son, Bryan Davis Ayers and his wife, Lillie Reneé Ayers, grandsons J. Cameron Ayers and A. Conor Ayers and granddaughters, Lillie Bryanne Ayers and Emma Caitlyn Davis Ayers of Raleigh; a son, Todd A. Ayers and his wife, Michelle L. Ayers; grandsons, Gabriel B. W. Ayers, Nicholas R. Ayers, and J. Dominick Ayers of Rock Hill, SC; a sister and a brother of Winston-Salem. A private service is planned with entombment in the Ayers private estate family mausoleum at Skyline Memory Gardens in Mount Airy. The family respectfully requests that no flowers be sent.