LaJoyce Ayers, Camden teacher
When Kia Callands knew LaJoyce Eason Ayers in the 2006-07 school year, they were special education teachers at Cooper B. Hatch Family School in Camden.
When Kia Callands knew LaJoyce Eason Ayers in the 2006-07 school year, they were special education teachers at Cooper B. Hatch Family School in Camden.
Both taught middle-school children "with learning difficulties," Callands said, "but she had the ones with behavior disabilities." Mrs. Ayers had chosen to teach them, Callands said.
As a mild-mannered person even in the midst of confrontations with students, Callands said, Mrs. Ayers "was able to bring them down to where she was."
Twice in her 27-year career at Hatch, the administration and staff named Mrs. Ayers the teacher of the year.
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Mrs. Ayers, 66, a lifelong resident of West Philadelphia, died of cancer at the Somerset, N.J., home of a daughter, Victoria Alford.
Born in Philadelphia, she graduated from William Penn High School in 1968, the year she married Jerry Ayers, her daughter said.
After helping to raise their family, Mrs. Ayers earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education at Cheyney University in 1981, her daughter said, the year in which the school named her its Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year.
Mrs. Ayers earned a master's in special education there in 1985.
She began her teaching career in a Philadelphia public school, transferred to a public elementary school in Paulsboro, and, her daughter said, taught middle school youngsters at Hatch from 1986 until she retired in 2013.
She was the organizer at the school of the annual Christmas pollyanna and luncheon.
A member of Calvary Baptist Church in West Philadelphia for more than 50 years, she was a contralto voice in its Talmadge Chorus, an adviser for its Youth Mass Choir, and a member of the Pastor's Aide Ministry.
And, her daughter said, Mrs. Ayers organized and managed the Bullets, a coed softball team that played in the 1980s in the Philadelphia region, New York state, and North Carolina.
In the 1980s, she also was a Girl Scout leader in West Philadelphia.
And every other year for decades, Mrs. Ayers was the organizer of a Morris and Wright Family Reunion, following in the tradition of her mother, Mary M. Morris.
"She was," her daughter said, "a praying, proud, and optimistic woman."
Besides her daughter, Mrs. Ayers is survived by her husband, sons Curtiss and Jaymon, daughters Shirley McGlone and Michele Denson, a brother, a sister, 20 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
A visitation was set from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at Calvary Baptist Church, 6122 Haverford Ave., before a 10 a.m. homegoing service there, with interment in Fernwood Cemetery, Upper Darby Township.
Condolences may be offered to the family at cwoodfh.com.
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