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Mrs. Beverly Frances Hyers Johnson Hires, 86 of Blackshear, formerly of Jesup, passed away Monday morning, March 14, 2022, at Memorial Satilla Health.
Born in Patterson, GA on November 26, 1935, she had lived in Pierce and Wayne Counties all her life. Mrs. Hires was a 1953 graduate of Patterson High School. She would go on to further her education by graduating from South Georgia College in Douglas. She also attended the University of Georgia – Waycross Campus as well as Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro. Her first teaching job was in Charlton County where she taught Home Economics. After her first year she accepted a position with the Pierce County Board of Education teaching at Patterson High School for a short time. Mrs. Hires made a career move from teaching to running her father’s feed mill in Odum which she did for many years.
Beverly, or “Aunt Bev” as she was affectionately called by so many, spent her last years being a homemaker and faithful church servant at Patterson Baptist Church. She was a former Sunday School teacher and member of the Joy Class. She is known by those who loved her in both her “hometowns” of Jesup and Patterson as one of the kindest, most genteel southern ladies around. She loved her friends and family and often celebrated the greatest moments of their lives with a beautiful tray of her famous homemade divinity and fudge. Her doctors and their staffs were often gifted with these beautiful trays of sweets and talk about “Aunt Bev” and her true southern graciousness to this day. She spent her last two years at Harborview Pierce where she welcomed her new family of friends and caregivers. She served as Residents Social Chairman and delighted in planning events for all those around her. She was immediately surrounded by love and treated everyone there as her family. “Aunt Bev” will truly be missed by all, and as one Harborview staff member wrote in tribute, “there will always be a hole in their hearts because Aunt Bev was one-of-a-kind.”
In her younger years, Mrs. Hires had enjoyed traveling to the mountains with her beloved husband Bert, meeting lifelong friends for dining and dancing at Disney World, collecting antiques from all over the world, and writing beautiful cards to family and friends on all their special occasions. She was kind and thoughtful and generous and loved her nieces and nephews as if they were her own children, including an extra-special grandmotherly relationship with Maggie and Jad Denison.
Mrs. Hires was a daughter of the late Clifford Columbus & Elouise Griner Hyers. She was also preceded in death by her first husband, Lupie Johnson; her second husband, Bert Hires; a brother, Cleve Hyers; and by a niece, Anna Lisa Keith.
Survivors include two sisters, Margie (Jim) Bland of Jesup and Claudia Boatright of Blackshear; a brother, Ed (Diane) Hyers of Patterson; a sister-in-law, Inez Hyers of Patterson; 11 nieces and nephews who were like her children, Carla (Terry) Tuten, Holly (Scott) Yeomans, Merry Gayle (Lin) Boatright, Dr. Richie (Ava) Bland, Joy (Dr. Lex) Kenerly, David (Arria) Bland, Lanna Denison, Ro (Rebecca) Aldridge, Horace (Christy) Moore, Bethanne (John) Trombetta, and Cecilia Hyers; numerous great nieces and nephews; and several other relatives.
Funeral services for Mrs. Hires will be held Thursday morning, March 17, 2022, at 11:00 o’clock from the Patterson Baptist Church with Rev. R. C. James officiating and Family Comments from Asher Kenerly. Active Pallbearers will be: Jad Denison, Austin Hardy, Cliff Knowlton, Asher Kenerly, John Lex Kenerly, David Bland II, Josh Anderson, and Tyler Murray.
The family will be receiving friends at the church one hour prior to the service.
Interment will be in the Patterson Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Patterson Baptist Church, 5770 E. Main St., Patterson, GA 31557or to the Blackshear Elementary School, 5217 Highway 121, Blackshear, GA 31516.
Sympathy may be expressed by signing the online register at www.pearsondial.com.
Pearson-Dial Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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