Faye Ayers

E. Faye Ayers (née Vickers) passed away on May 1, 2025 at the age of 93. She was preceded in death by her parents Dellos and Bessie Vickers, her husband Robert Ayers, her daughter Deborah Miller, and her infant daughter Brenda Ayers. She is survived by her daughter Cynthia Walton (Larry), grandchildren Emily Colgan (Scott), Danny Walton (Katie), and Rachel West (Ken), as well as 14 great-grandchildren Samuel, Bradley, Aiden, Jesse, McKenzie, Asher, Eli, Connor, Azalea, Cooper, Robert, Andrew, Kaleb, and Nolan, niece Terry Conant, former son-in-law Nathan Combs, and countless friends and extended family. Her family would also like to thank her longtime dentists Dr. Reich and Dr. Yoest, physicians Dr. Rangi and Dr. Kharat, the staff at Country View Nursing Home of Sunbury, and the staff at Kobacker House for the care and compassion they showed her.

Faye was born on September 10,1931 in Wellston, Ohio, the first of 9 children. She graduated from Wellston High School in 1949. She and her sweetheart Bob eloped to Indiana 1953 and enjoyed 53 years of marriage. After the wedding, they moved to Columbus, where she lived for a time at the YWCA before settling in Westerville to have and raise their daughters. In their golden years, they downsized and moved to Sunbury to be closer to their daughters. After Bob passed, she moved back to Westerville to live with her granddaughter and enjoyed all the comings and goings of a young family for several years. She spent her final months at Country View in Sunbury and her final days at Kobacker House in Columbus.

Faye was a joyful person by nature, only holding hate in her heart for snakes, anything made from avocado, poison ivy, The Team Up North, and her given first name, which is why she went by Faye. She was a lifelong Ohio State football fan and loudly expressed her elation or dismay at the television whenever the Buckeyes played. She had an unexplainable affection for Tom Brady, could finish an ice cream sundae in record time, and thought that hydration was an optional function of the human body because bathroom stops were just too darn inconvenient. She loved to play the piano, listen to gospel and bluegrass music, and attend outdoor festivals and parades.

Industrious to her core, she held a variety of jobs, including being a waitress, a secretary at Blue Cross, a line worker at a styrofoam and straw factory, a school lunch lady at Central College Elementary, a house cleaner, and nanny to multiple children. She also opened an antique store in Westerville with her husband in the 1960s and though the store closed a few years later, she maintained an inventory of hundreds of antique items in her personal collection for the remainder of her life. She loved to host garage sales and collect “perfectly good” freebies from the curb on trash day.

Directions were always optional for her, which explained why most culinary skills passed her by, save for homemade bread and eggs fried crispy in bacon grease in a cast-iron skillet. But she was nothing if not inventive, making do with less or leftovers. She had a sweet sentimentality and surrounded herself with things that made her happy and reminded her of people and places. She enjoyed seasonal delights, whether that be fresh rhubarb and strawberry jam in the spring, heirloom tomatoes in the summer, or Anthony Thomas chocolates at Christmas.

She loved being outside with nary a care for SPF or shade, taking unscheduled naps in a comfy chair, working happily in her garden, or mowing the grass, a job she insisted upon completing on her John Deere riding mower up to the summer before she passed. She had no use for snow or the cold weather and grumbled if a weather forecast suggested they were imminent.

Though academics were not one of her gifts, she knew the value of education and encouraged all of her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids to get as much as they could. She helped in any way she was able, whether it be studying for spelling tests with them, helping with science fair projects, or slipping them some cash on the sly when they were home from college so they could focus on their studies.

She was a long-time member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Westerville and in her younger years she was a Sunday school teacher, sang in the choir, and was a member of Sarah Circle. She volunteered at Vacation Bible School and made sure all three generations to come after her attended. In more recent years when the church switched from homemade bread to gluten free, she could always be counted on for a giggle after Holy Communion when she expressed her disgust for the less-than-tasty substitution with funny faces.

On her wall hung a sign that says, “She who dies with the most fabric wins” and we now can officially declare her the winner. She had a life-long love of quilting and was a member of the Piece and Sew and Crazy Condit Quilters quilting guilds. She passed the skill down to her daughters and grandchildren. Over the course of her lifetime she made hundreds of handicrafts and quilts, many of which she donated to those less fortunate.

She enjoyed traveling and visited many places, including countless road and camping trips in the US and Canada and multiple trips to Europe. She eagerly chaperoned any trip her grandkids invited her on, including to Cincinnati, Washington D.C., and Germany. She never met a stranger and happily conversed with anyone at home or abroad, undaunted by language barriers, sure that IF SHE ONLY TALKED LOUDER, they’d magically understand her.

And if there was a baby in the room, there was a baby on her lap. Babies adored her almost as much as she adored them– and there were plenty to keep her busy. By our rough calculations, she had a great grandbaby at her cuddling disposal for nearly 20 years straight. When she passed, her eldest was just about to graduate college and her youngest was in 1st grade and each and every one of them spent countless hours tucked warm and safe in Great Grandma Faye’s arms.

Her true delight in life was her family. She loved them fiercely and supported them in all their triumphs and trials. She enthusiastically attended any and all birthday parties, games, concerts, graduations, ceremonies, showers, weddings, baptisms, and other celebrations. She was happy to be a part of anything, even the mundane, whether that meant passing out candy for Trick or Treat, filling Easter eggs with candy, stuffing piñatas with candy (wait…we’re noticing a pattern here.)

She will be missed ever so much by those that knew and loved her, but they take comfort in knowing that she had a life well lived and was at peace with it coming to an end. She would be annoyed at them making such a fuss about her, but since she isn’t here to tell them otherwise, there will be a Celebration of Life for her on Saturday, May 17th from 1-4pm at the Trenton Township Building in Sunbury. There will be a casual buffet lunch, visitation, and a eulogy will be shared at 2:30pm.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that you go out for ice cream with loved ones or make a donation in her honor to Faith Mission Homeless Shelter (Lutheran Social Services.)