Funeral services will be held at 12pm on Thursday, December 5, 2019 at Southern Heritage Funeral Home with Marion Eubanks of Green Valley Baptist Church officiating. A graveside service will precede the service at 10am at Southern Heritage Cemetery.
Jerry Dale Sayers was born on January 4, 1939 in Tallassee, AL to Olive Celeste Wadsworth Sayers and Lester David Lee Sayers. His family relocated to LaGrange, GA, then to Opp, AL, where he graduated from Opp High School in 1957 as captain of the football team. In 1960, Jerry married his high school sweetheart Betty Lou Bentley. He graduated from Auburn University in 1961 with a Bachelor of Building Construction.
Jerry began his career in 1961 in Tuskegee, AL with Conner Brothers Construction. He moved his young family to Birmingham in 1963 to continue work with Daniel Construction Co. The family temporarily relocated to Tuscaloosa while he served as project manager overseeing the construction of Coleman Coliseum on the University of Alabama campus. He then worked for Brasfield & Gorrie Construction Co. for several years. He left to start Cooper & Sayers Construction Co. with Leonard Cooper, and later formed Bailey & Sayers Construction Co. with Lucky Bailey. In 1990, Jerry founded Sayers Building Co., from which he retired in 2017. He served on the board of the Associated General Contractors of America.
Jerry was a longtime member of Green Valley Baptist Church in Hoover, where he was active as a deacon, Sunday School teacher, and Royal Ambassadors leader. He was an avid outdoorsman and spent many years hunting, fishing in Panama City, FL, camping, and gardening. Jerry was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, neighbor, and friend to those who were privileged to know him.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 47 years, Betty Lou Bentley Sayers, and his brothers Thomas Aubrey Sayers and David Lee Sayers. He is survived by daughters Suzanne (Johnny) Woller of Decatur and Sherry Sayers Norwood of Birmingham and grandchildren John (Valerie) Woller III of Baltimore, MD, David Woller of Denver, CO, Patricia Woller of Decatur, and Philip Norwood of Birmingham. He is also survived by sisters-in-law Linda Sayers and Jane Bentley, nephews Tommy Sayers and Bob Bentley, and nieces Vanessa Sayers, Leslie Greer, Susan Chandler, Abby Sayers, and Jordan Hassler, as well as great-nephews and great-nieces.
Pallbearers will be Willie Edmiston, Ray Hardman, Jim Rochester, and Carl Toner.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be made to the Jimmy Hale Mission of Birmingham and the Alzheimer’s Association for alzheimer’s and dementia research.
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