Jerry Guillory, 89, Hessmer native

Jerry Guillory, 89, of Alexandria, previously from Hessmer, entered the arms of Our Lord on Friday, June 26, 2020.
Jerry Guillory was best known for being a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, teacher, and a devout Catholic. He was married to his beautiful wife of 67 years, Fay Guillory. Jerry and Fay have an undying love and commitment to each other and to their family. Jerry forged the path for our family for generations to come.
Prior to moving to Alexandria, Jerry spent over 70 years living in Hessmer where he raised his children and worked multiple careers during his lifetime. Our Dad was driven to provide for his family and at times worked three jobs to do so. He began his professional career teaching high school math and science at Fifth Ward High School and then finished his teaching career at Marksville High School. He was loved so much by his students and some of those students have kept in touch with him all these years.
Dad graduated from Southwest Louisiana Institute in 1950 and completed his Master’s Degree at LSU in 1953. One interesting thing is that he and his father graduated with their Master’s Degrees at the same time. Later in his career, he became a Supervisor of Education of Math and Science in the Avoyelles Parish School Board office. Dad also owned and operated an insurance business in his home in Hessmer.
Education was paramount to our father. He was a very intelligent man and knew mathematics extremely well. If we ever had a math problem, he would sit with us and “start from the beginning” so it would usually take at least an hour to resolve one math problem. He was a “stickler” for grammar. His emails were always very proper and if we responded in a more casual tone, we could anticipate a gentle grammatical teaching moment. Daddy, please do not fuss at me if I made any grammatical errors on this!
Our Dad was committed to providing us the best opportunities through education and life experiences, despite enduring hardships in their lives including the Great Depression and the loss of their adorable daughter, Janis, at the age of 2.
He was a very simple and frugal man (he would always attribute that to growing up in the Depression), but he invested heavily and proudly in his children’s education and in providing us life experiences. Bruce became a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, and Joan pursued an MBA in Finance, all at our Dad’s expense. His grandchildren all have Bachelor’s Degrees and some have even achieved advanced degrees. He also shared his love for the LSU Tigers with our entire family and brought us to the games at an early age. As we grew older and had children, we all enjoyed watching the games together.
Dad was a very devout Catholic. He never missed Sunday Mass, even when he was traveling out of the country. Since he was raised in Hessmer, he spent most of his life attending and supporting St. Alphonsus Catholic Church but later when our parents moved to Alexandria, he was devoted to St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. He was a large supporter of the continuation of the Catholic school at St. Frances, and spent many years in the Knights of Columbus Council #3088 in Hessmer.
Dad loved to travel. He and our mother went to many exotic places in their lives including Egypt, Russia, Tahiti. He took us on many vacations all around the country, and even to France for a month with a special program through the parish school system. We had so many life experiences due to his passion for education and travel.
Our Dad loved music and when we were young, our parents would quite often host family and friends to listen to music, laugh, and dance into the wee hours of the morning. We remember him swinging Mom around dancing the Waltz and holding her cheek-to-cheek while dancing to some of his favorite songs. His favorite music was created by artists like Fats Domino, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and many others. He taught his granddaughters how to dance starting the moment they could walk. He even learned to dance to the more progressive music and one of our fun, fond family memories was of doing the Macarena as a family at the beach one year!
As a grandfather, our kids felt so close to Papa and have so very many fond memories. Even as a great-grandfather, he would play with our grandkids, throwing balls, swinging them, or doing anything they wanted him to do. Our grandkids remember that he just had a story or words of wisdom for every situation. Seriously – everything. Stopped and made you think. They loved that about him. He also loved learning new technology from our grandkids but never did get the hang of the iPhone. He loved family and that was the most important thing to him.
We are very thankful and blessed to have had such a committed father, grandfather, and great grandfather for our families. He will be missed dearly by all of us. We love you Daddy and we know that you are at peace with God. You are now one of our angels, keeping watch over all of us.
Jerry Guillory was preceded in death by his daughter, Janis Guillory; his parents, Edwin P. Guillory and Anne Moreau Guillory; and his brother, Nathan Guillory.
Those left to cherish his memory include his wife, Fay Guillory, their son and his wife, Dr. Bruce Guillory and Janice Guillory, and their daughter, Joan Guillory (John); his granddaughters, including Lauren Lousteau (Ryan), Dr. Rachel Thompson (Brandon), Megan Williams (Joey), Jennifer Mitchell (Russ), and Ashley Leone (John); his great grandchildren, including Camille Lousteau, James Thompson, Easton Williams, Ryder Mitchell, Raleigh Mitchell, Jace Leone, and Ansley Leone; and numerous other family and friends.
Private funeral services celebrating the life of Jerry Guillory will be held at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Alexandria with Father Jose Robles-Sanchez and Father Chad Partain officiating. Burial will be in St. Alphonsus Mausoleum under the direction of Hixson Brothers, Marksville.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s hospital. St. Jude is leading the way in treating and defeating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. We ask this as a way of honoring our sister, Janis, who is now reunited with our father. Please use the following website link to send a donation in memory of Dad.
https://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR/GiftFunds/GiftFundspx=4846084&pg=...