Obituaries

Claudia Faye Ballard Guyot

Photo of Claudia Faye Ballard Guyot
Claudia Faye Ballard Guyot, 87, of the Oak Grove community, passed away Thursday, March 28, 2013, following complications from a stroke in Aug., 2012. She was born at home July 14, 1925, to the late Fred and Dolly Goad in Oak Grove. Faye lived a life of dedication to her church and family, accepting Jesus as her Lord as a young girl at Oak Grove Baptist Church. She went to school in Oak Grove where she excelled in basketball. In 1943, she married Bill Ballard and together they had two daughters. While Bill served in the Navy in the Seabees unit, Faye worked in the ammunition plant at Jacksonville. After the war, Bill continued his career with heavy construction, building pipelines across the United States, South America and Indonesia. Faye raised the girls and took care of the family farm and frequently drove the girls across the country to places like Minnesota and Colorado to be with their dad during summer breaks and school vacations. Like her parents, Faye and Bill were active in Oak Grove Baptist Church where Bill served as a deacon. After a tragic bulldozer accident took the life of Bill in 1962, Faye enrolled in school to become a hairdresser. In 1963, she moved to Lonoke where she opened a beauty salon. In 1966, she married Hubert Guyot and moved to the community of Cocklebur where she helped Hubert on their dairy farm. They became active in the Cocklebur Baptist Church where Hubert served as a deacon and Faye served in several positions. Faye and Hubert became active in the Gideons and traveled extensively attending Gideon conventions and sharing God's word. After Hubert's death in 1998, Faye moved back to the community of her birth, Oak Grove. Faye is survived by her daughters, Donna (Nagel) Champlin of 16th Section and Sharron (Hugh) Havens of Oak Grove; two stepdaughters, Fran (Richard) Eads of Ward and Charlotte Guyot of Rogers; one stepson, Ronnie Guyot (Cindy) of Ward; seven granddaughters, Deanne Moore, Leanne Lynn, Holly Dewey, Gisela Haynie, Kim Yates, Stephanie Maloney, Patricia Randall; seven grandsons, Shane Sumler, Wes Havens, Josh Guyot, Dale Abshure, Erick Eads, Richard Eads, Jr., Chuck Champlin; 29 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; two sisters, Freddie LeMay of Austin and Charlotte (Harold) Cole of Jacksonville; three sisters-in-law, Ava Goad of North Little Rock, Nell Ballard of Searcy, Nelda Hurley of Ward, and one brother-in-law, Jimmy Ballard of Ward. In addition to her parents and husbands, she was preceded in death by two brothers, J. C. Goad and Billy Doris Goad. The family wishes to express appreciation to the staff at Cabot Nursing and Rehab Center for the compassion and care shown to their loved one. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Cocklebur Baptist Church and/or The Gideons, International, Cabot Camp, P.O. Box 212, Cabot, Ark. 72023. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, 2013, at Cocklebur Baptist Church, 4138 Cocklebur Road, Ward, Ark. 72176, with burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. Arrangements by Westbrook, a Smith Family Funeral Home. www.SmithFamilyCares.com.

Published March 31, 2013

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