Bea Roncovitts

Beatrice Maxine (Ott) Hayes Roncovitts, known to many as Bea, of Lockwood, Missouri, turned 99 on July 23, 2025.  She departed this life on Sunday, January 4, 2026, in the Good Shepherd Community Care and Rehabilitation Facility.

Bea was born to Frederick and Minnie Ott five miles south of Lockwood in Meinert, Missouri, in the house her father built.  She had two brothers and two sisters, who are deceased.

Bea married Chester Wayne Hayes on July 25, 1943 and had their first and only daughter, Margaret Ann, in 1944 while Wayne was fighting for the Army in WWII.  After the war, they moved to Miami, Oklahoma, then Wichita, Kansas, before settling back in Lockwood in 1952 with Margaret and their sons Mike and Randy in tow, completing their family with Roger and Bob later on.

“My five children have been the most rewarding thing I have done in my life,” stated Bea.  She has called Lockwood home ever since. She moved to the Good Shepherd Residential Care Facility in 2023 after living at home alone since the death of her second husband, DeWayne Roncovitts, a retired Army Master Sergeant who she married in 2003 and died in 2010.

Bea has always valued her family, enjoyed traveling, visiting with friends, playing pinochle (for more than 50 years with her good friends, including Neva Lilienkamp and Eloise Haubein), singing in the church choir, donating her time and money to various causes, and holding many jobs, including with the family business, Hayes Plumbing, Heating and Air for 45 years.  

She has been a member of the Lutheran Church since birth, and is the proud granddaughter of German immigrants.

Each year, her family gathers at Table Rock Lake for “Hayes Fest”, and this year she was excited to join the nearly three dozen children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great, great-grandchildren who are proud of their family’s legacy that Bea has nurtured in Dade County and beyond.

Bea is survived by four children: Margaret Kerr (Al-deceased), Randy Hayes (Karen), Roger Hayes (Debby), and Bob Hayes (Patti); 11 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and six great, great-grandchildren.

Bea was preceded in death by a grandson, Grant Hayes; a son, Mike Hayes; and a son-in-law, Al Kerr.

Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at Immanuel Lutheran Church.  

Burial followed in the Lockwood Cemetery.  

The family received friends on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. until service time at the church. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Good Shepherd Community Care and Rehabilitation Facility’s Good Endings Room.  

Online condolences may be shared at www.greenfieldfuneralchapel.com.  

Services were under the care of Lockwood Funeral Chapel.