Obituary of James Earl Hyers

COL James Earl Hyers (United States Army, Retired), passed away Sunday, August 13, 2023, at the age of 87. Funeral services for COL Hyers will be 11:00 A.M. Friday, August 18, 2023, from the First Ozark United Methodist Church with Reverend Dr. Billy D. Gaither and Reverend Melanie Sebastian Foust officiating. Military Honors will be presented following the service. The family will receive friends at the funeral home in Ozark Thursday evening from 5:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. Earl was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida to the late Eugene Hyers and Mae Box Hyers. He met and married Roberta Dixon Hyers, a fellow student at the University of Florida. After graduating with an accounting degree, he was commissioned with a Regular Army Commission in 1958. He and Roberta and their three children moved many times throughout the United States and Germany. Always one for an adventure, Earl loved the Army life. Initially serving in a tank battalion, he had the opportunity to go to Flight School and discovered one of the loves of his life – flying. As a helicopter pilot, his career among many assignments included 2 tours in Vietnam, attendance at the Command General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Battalion Commander of the 205th Transportation Battalion in Hanau, West Germany and ultimately managing all DoD business as the Army Plant Representative for Bell Helicopter in Texas. He retired after 29 ½ years and he and Roberta moved to Ozark, Alabama where they discovered that after years of wandering, they were home. He worked for UNC (now Bell Helicopter) and DynCorp before retiring to play golf and cheer on his beloved Florida Gators. He happily served as board member and/or volunteer for many organizations in his 34 years in Ozark, including the Boys & Girls Club, The Wiregrass and Dale County United Way, the Ozark Rotary Club, the Dale County Public Library, the Wiregrass Honor Flight Hub, Daedalians and several other military organizations. He was a dedicated member of the First Ozark United Methodist Church. He was proud to be a Mason and a Veteran. He was predeceased by his parents, Mae Box Hyers and Joseph Eugene Hyers as well as his wife of nearly 62 years, Roberta Dixon Hyers. He is survived by his brother, Joseph Curtis Hyers, of Jacksonville, Florida; Daughter and Son-In-Law, Holly and Don Moore of Suwanee, Georgia; Son and Daughter-in-Law, Bruce and Mel Hyers of Lake Charles, Louisiana; Son, David Hyers of Jacksonville, Florida; Grandchildren: Ryan Moore, Lawrenceville, Georgia; Melissa and Eric Spencer, Richmond, Virginia and Tyler Hyers, Austin, Texas. He is also survived by niece, Fern Hatzenbuhler of Lawrenceville, Georgia. Earl never met a stranger and although he was always a “Florida boy” at heart, he truly found his home in Ozark. He loved his neighbors and his friends and if he knew you, you were a friend. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in his memory to the First Ozark United Methodist Church, 167 East Broad Street, Ozark, Alabama 36360; or to the Boys and Girls Club of Ozark, 195 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Ozark, Alabama 36360.