LaVerle Allen Hayes

Funeral services for LaVerle Allen Hayes, age 88 of Downsville, LA, will be held at 2:00 PM, Sunday, November 15, 2026 at Farrar Funeral Home with Brent Warren Majeska officiating. Interment will follow at Ruggs Bluff Cemetery in Downsville, LA under the direction of Farrar Funeral Home. Visitation will be held at 12:30 PM, prior to the service, at Farrar Funeral Home, Sunday, November 15, 2026.

LaVerle Allen Hayes, a beloved educator, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and cherished member of the Union Parish community, passed away peacefully, surrounded by the love of her family, friends, and former students. Gregarious, magnanimous, and wonderfully larger than life, LaVerle was a beacon of warmth, generosity, and inspiration throughout the Downsville and Farmerville communities. For approximately 43 years, she devoted her life to teaching in Union Parish and mainly at Farmerville Junior High School, where her influence extended far beyond the classroom. Known for being tough but fair, she was a teacher who expected excellence, inspired confidence, and never hesitated to go the extra mile for a child in need. She provided clothing, school supplies, free tutoring, personal home visits, counseling, and encouragement to countless students, regardless of race or economic circumstance. Her legacy was perhaps best reflected in the enthusiastic greetings she received wherever she went. In a beautiful reflection of her life’s work, the majority of her caregivers at Arbor Rose Assisted Living were former students who had once benefited from her guidance and affection. They cared for her with extraordinary tenderness and devotion, and during her final days, many struggled through tears as they came to say goodbye to their beloved teacher. The love she had spent a lifetime giving had come home to care for her. LaVerle’s final days were peaceful and filled with love. Surrounded by family, friends, fellow educators, and former students, she listened with closed eyes and smiled as loved ones gathered around her, sharing kisses, laughter, and cherished stories. She was preceded in death by her parents, Taylor Odis Allen and Ester Viola Pardue Allen, her brother, Finnon Taylor Allen, and her life-long cherished friend, Peggy Reagan. She is survived by her husband, Wilkie Hayes; daughter, Allison Dalton White (Brian); sons, Dave Allen Dalton, Jr. and Tim Colvin (Gricelda); grandchildren, Finnon Allen Flowers (Casey), Ferrin Ashton Flowers, Jack Dalton Johnson, Taylor Dalton Harris (Dawson), and Allen Michael Dalton (Taylor), Wilkie Hayes, III, and Bonnie Hayes, and numerous great-grandchildren, and fiercely loyal friends Sandra Davidson, Pat Turner, and Pat Purdy. LaVerle leaves behind not only a loving family but generations of students whose lives were forever changed by her compassion, determination, and unwavering belief in their potential. A great teacher’s influence never truly ends. It lives on in every life she touches. To generations of students and to the community she loved so dearly, she will forever be Mrs. LaVerle.