Wiley Roach

The Life of Wiley Roach

He was born to Wiley A. and Edna Roach on October 19, 1932. He lived in a cypress shack with his brother Tom and sister Ada Sue, on land now known as Selman Field/Monroe Airport. When Wiley was 9 years old, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor causing Wiley’s family to be evicted from their land to build an airbase. The family was given 5 days to move. Wiley’s parents watched their home, barn and 8 acres of fig trees burned by the government. Wiley’s father worked at the paper mill and did lawn work in his spare time. One of Wiley’s father’s customers was R.C. Sparks who loaned Wiley’s father the money to buy land on Highway 80. The land became known as Roach’s Nursery, Inc from 1941 to 1983.

Wiley was a member of New Chapel Hill Baptist Church, being baptized at age 12. He graduated from Calhoun High School in 1950 in a class of 16 students. He was quickly drafted into the Army, where he served with the 307th Military Police as a motorcycle patrolman, along with other local men, including Charles Venable, E. J. Sievers, Johnny Carl Parkson and Zap Zapsome. He was released from duty in 1955. He then returned to West Monroe to work in the family Nursery business.
Wiley married Sally Ann Taylor of Rayville in 1955. They were blessed with four children: Donna, David, Nita and Rachel, 9 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. Wiley was involved in many community projects and organizations. These included President of Davis Island Hunting Club for 15 years, serving on the Louisiana Horticulture Commission for 8 years, served as board member of Industrial Development Board of Northeast Louisiana, and Commander of Ouachita Power Squadron for many years. He earned a license from the United States Coast Guard to operate passenger vessels up to 100 tons, serving as co-captain of the Twin City Queen Riverboat on the Ouachita River for many years.

Wiley’s hobbies included spending time with his friends, hunting, growing a large garden every spring, and spending time on the houseboat on the Ouachita River, where many fond memories were made with his family and friends. After retirement, he found great joy at his farm in Kansas, making new lifelong friends. He also was an active member of the Pathfinders Men’s Sunday School class at First West Baptist Church in West Monroe, LA, where he found a renewed faith in God.

Wiley was a Master Horticulturist. He was well known for his beautiful landscaping including Anna Grey Knoe park, City of Monroe Courthouse, St. Francis Hospital and Park and 1,000’s of beautiful residential landscaping jobs in the Twin City and surrounding rural areas. One of his most prized accomplishments was the landscaping and creation of the beautiful Emy-Lou Biedenharn Gardens in the Garden District of Monroe. Many of the camelia and trees planted there are still present and thriving. Wiley was also known for planting many groves of pecan trees, including the pecan grove surrounding the Centurylink center and the Northeast Louisiana War Veterans Home on Hwy 165 North.

Funeral services celebrating the life of Mr. Wiley E. Roach, 87, of West Monroe, LA, will be held at 2:00 P.M., Thursday, June 25, 2020, in Feazel Chapel at First Baptist Church in West Monroe, LA, with Dr. Woods Watson officiating. Interment will follow in Roselawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Calhoun, LA, under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home in West Monroe, LA.

Visitation will be held from 4:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M., Wednesday, June 24, 2020, at Mulhearn Funeral Home in West Monroe, LA. During this time, due to capacity requirements, we ask that you express your condolences to the family in a short and timely manner so that everyone may have the same opportunity.

Pallbearers will be Will Roach, Wesley Little, Chase Clayton, Nicholas Levet, Paul Lemoine, Billy Cooper and Bobby Petrus.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Buddy Hollis, Sam Henry, Dr. F.P. Cobb, Jerry Paige, Johnny Wilbanks, Dr. Clyde Elliott, Dr. Jesse LaPietra, Chuck Finley and John Kelly.

The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. Clyde Elliott and Dr. Jesse LaPietra for their special medical care and their unwavering friendship throughout Wiley’s life.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to See To It Missions at First West Baptist Church.