Funeral Service will be held 2:00 p.m. Wednesday at Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home, Marietta. Interment will be at Kennesaw Memorial Park Cemetery, Marietta.
Katherine was born on September 2, 1923 on Maple Avenue in Marietta, Georgia. She attended Waterman Street Elementary School and Marietta High School where she graduated in 1941. She worked for Southern Bell as a switchboard operator. While living at home on Maple Avenue with sisters, Louise, Dorothy, Jean and brothers, Hugh and Bill, their widowed mother took in boarders to help ends meet. Since there were no hotels and apartments, the many laborers, who migrated to Marietta to help build the Bell Bomber Plant were forced to take room and board at private homes. It was there that Katherine met a boarder who would later become her husband, Jimmie H. Ayer.
Katherine and Jimmie were married in 1946 after Jimmie returned from the South Pacific with the U.S. Navy. They started a business together and named it Home Transportation Company. The company’s purpose was to truck the prefabricated homes built by U.S. Homes at the recently closed Bell Bomber Plant to each home’s final destination. Together they built the business into a nation-wide specialized carrier moving oversized and heavy products across America. After Jimmie’s death in 1975 Katherine served as Chairman of the Board at the company that for some years was the largest private employer in Cobb County. They were also instrumental in the growth and prosperity of Roswell Street Baptist Church which they joined in 1946.
Survivors include her daughters, Gail Ayer Gilliam & husband, Hugh of Canton, Kathy Ayer McManus & husband, Greg of Acworth; son, Hal Ayer & wife, Becky of Marietta; grandchildren, Corbett Gilliam, Justin Gilliam & Angela Wood, Dean McManus, Alex McManus, Karl McManus, Sarah Ayer Bill, Dawson Ayer, Leah Ayer & Rachel Ayer; twelve great-grandchildren; her beloved friend, Mickey Mathews; numerous nephews and nieces.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607-3000 or Billy Graham Ministries, 1 Billy Graham Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28201-0001.
Family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.
770-428-1511Burial arrangements under the direction of Kennesaw Memorial Park.
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