Lola "Pat" Donham Haley

Lola “Pat” Donham Haley, 80, of Lake Charles died at 1:20 PM on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 in her residence.

Mrs. Haley was born on April 19, 1936 in Lake Charles where she resided all of her life. She was a well known seamstress in the area and for 18 years shared her gifts and talent with the Twelfth Night Revelers as well as for Contraband festivities, Mardi Gras krewes, high school cheerleaders, and also homecoming dances. She was able to continue to sew until six weeks ago when her health declined. Mrs. Haley will be remembered for her cooking skills. She was known to many as the “neighborhood mom” and could always be reliable to take care of working parent’s children. She and her husband fostered thirteen children in addition to raising their own.

Those left to cherish her memory are five children, Gary Wayne Haley and Virgil Haley both of Lake Charles, Terry Haley (April) of Spring, TX, Deborah Betsill of Lake Charles, and Vivian Brandt of Carlisle, PA; two sisters, Betty Kelly of Crystal Springs, MS and Dorothy Wallace of Cold Water, MS; seven grandchildren; seven great grandchildren; and six great great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Basil “Jack” Haley and her parents, Virgil Lynn and Ethel Estelle Donham.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, November 5, 2016 in the Johnson Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow in Creel Cemetery in Bel, LA (Reeves, LA). Visitation will begin on Saturday from 10:00 AM until the start of the service.