Loretta Hayes Williams died August 26, 2019, in Raymore, MO, ending an abundant life of care for family and friends and of community service and world travel. Loretta was the widow of George P. Williams MD and the only daughter of Homer and Neva (Ramsey) Hayes, who also had four sons: Gerald, Norman, Roy, and Wesley. She was born November 15, 1932, in Stickney, Dry Creek Township, Maries County, Missouri, and grew up among a multitude of Hayes, Ramsey, Davis, Parker, and other family.

Having skipped two grades at Kenner School, Loretta graduated from Vienna High School, class of 1949, and matriculated to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she studied home economics and met George. She graduated in 1953. They were the first to be married in the Kenner Church of God near Hayden, MO, on November 25, 1953. Together they produced five children—Beth, Tom, Carol, Laura, and Jim—and built a marriage that included dual careers and a shared commitment to community health, public education, and Christian faith.

Loretta taught school in 1953-54 in Prairie Home, MO, then briefly was a waitress in Kansas City at Nichols Lunch and the Y-Drive In before they moved to Iowa City. While George finished medical school at the University of Iowa, Loretta managed the cafeteria at the lab school, taught science and home economics courses, and started graduate school. They moved back to Kansas City in 1956 and started a family. In 1957 the Army drafted George, who shipped off the next year to Germany. Loretta endured a 24-hour transatlantic journey with two children and pregnant with a third on multiple Army transport planes to reunite with George. They loved West Germany and explored Europe before returning to the U.S. in late 1960 and settling in the Hickman Mills area, where George was a family physician.

Superficially, Loretta was a typical suburban housewife in the 1960s and 1970s, driving the children to sports, camps, school events, etc., sewing clothes, serving as a room mother, and playing bridge regularly. But she burst through the stereotype of women as she led community organizations into the early 1980s. She was president of the Holmes Park Kindergarten and Truman Elementary PTAs, then president of the Hickman Mills Council of PTAs and first president of the Hickman Mills High School PTSA. She was a founder of the "picture lady" program at Truman Elementary, introducing students to the finest paintings she had seen for herself in Europe. She was a Camp Fire leader and served on the board of the Community Mental Health Center South. Both she and George were elders of Hickman Mills Community Christian Church; Loretta was also the first woman chair of the church board, all the while using her food service expertise to plan and prepare complete meals—including homemade rolls—for 200 or more at church dinners.

As her youngest child was finishing high school and grandchildren started to arrive in 1981, Loretta accelerated into paid work outside the home. She was an agent for Fidelity Union Life Insurance before opening Select Tours and Travel in the late 1980s. As a group travel specialist, she was an early, enthusiastic fan of Branson while also leading groups across the U.S., Canada, and the world. She was particularly fond of Australia and Scotland. Many of her clients remarked that she encouraged them to explore with her places they would have never gone otherwise. She relished every trip and was always ready to go someplace, whether for business or to visit family. Eventually she saw every continent but Antarctica. Only failing health in the last year could end her travel adventures.

Loretta was preceded in death by George, her parents, and her brothers Gerald and Norman. She is survived by brothers Roy Hayes, Dixon, MO, and Wesley Hayes (Velma), Vienna, MO; her children Beth Slinkard (David Fleischer), Central Islip, NY, Tom Williams, Sarasota, FL, Carol Adams, Overland Park, KS, Laura Sienkiewicz (Paul), Kansas City, MO, and Jim Williams, Homestead, FL; her eight grandchildren Kate Slinkard, Rachel Borden (Adam), Nathan Slinkard, Tommy Williams, Piper Williams, Lauren Adams, Christine Martinez, and Travis Martinez (Rachel Sunday); her cat Sam; her grand dogs Charlie, Dub, Ted, Bo, Maybelle, Mickey, and Minnie; and loving cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Visitation at Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home, Vienna, MO, Friday, August 30, 5 to 7 p.m. Visitation at 10 a.m. with funeral service and burial at 11 a.m. at Kenner Church of God and Cemetery, Saturday, August 31. Memorial service at the First Baptist Church of Kansas City, MO (Red Bridge Rd.) on Sunday, September 1, at 2 p.m. The family suggests memorials to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for orphaned elephants or the Kenner Cemetery Fund.