Joy Joyner
Joy Ingram Joyner, 84, of El Dorado died Saturday, September 20, 2003. She was born November 11, 1918 in Morganton, the daughter of William Allen and Virgie Sneed Ingram.
She began teaching in one-room schools in Van Buren County at age 16, later working ten years for Arkansas Social Services and then for 24 years for the Arkansas Employment Security Division. Thereafter she returned to teaching.
She had been a resident of Little Rock for 35 years before moving to El Dorado six years ago.
She was preceded in death by her two brothers and three sisters, Carl, Sneed and Hazel Ingram, Wanda Kirkendoll and Annilene Linn.
Survivors include her son, Paul Joyner and wife Marilyn of El Dorado, a granddaughter, nieces and nephews.
Services were held Tuesday, September 23 at Roller-McNutt Chapel in Clinton, with interment at Colony cemetery at Morganton. Arrangements were by Young’s Funeral Directors of El Dorado and Roller-McNutt of Clinton.
Marlow Nansel
Marlowe C. Nansel, 82, of Bee Branch died Sunday, September 21, 2003 at UAMS in Little Rock. He was born on a farm near Monroe, NE on July 15, 1921, the son of the late Vernon and Theresa Josephine Nansel.
He saw service with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, and retired from Bechtel Corp. in San Francisco, CA in 1986. Prior to his move to his place east of Bee Branch he lived on his farm near Sidney.
He was preceded in death by a sister and her husband, Agatha and Loyd Cochran, Mountain Home, ID; brothers Joseph Michael Nansel and wife Evelyn of Arcata, CA and John Anthony Nansel and wife Betty of Sacramento, CA, and another sister, Lucy and husband Harold Martens.
Survivors include three sisters, Catherine Shanahan of Rio Dell, CA; Mary Frances Keeler of Pomona, CA and Patricia Ann Tritten of Eureka, CA; a local nephew, Richard A. Martens and wife Jane Marie of Bee Branch, other relatives and many friends both here and abroad.
A memorial service may be announced at a later date; arrangements were by Olmstead Funeral Home of Heber Springs.
Barbara Sims
Barbara Linn Sims, 69, of Jonesboro, LA died Monday, November 24, 2003 at Jackson Parish Hospital. She was born January 9, 1934 at Clinton.
She was a retired teacher, and taught piano for many years in Jackson Parish. She was a member of Jonesboro United Methodist Church and the Fellowship Sunday school class, and was a former member of Les Beau Arts Club.
Survivors include her husband, Don Sims of Jonesboro; a daughter, Cindy Cole of Jonesboro; a son, David Sims of Monroe, LA, and one grandchild.
Services were held November 26 at Jonesboro United Methodist Church with Rev. Stuart Sherman officiating. Interment was at Gayla Traina cemetery at Jonesboro under the direction of Edmonds Funeral Home of Jonesboro.
Thelma Jones
Thelma Myrick Jones, 94, of Madera, CA died October 3, 2003 at a Fresno, CA hospital after a short illness. She was born Setpember 25, 1909 at Dabney to the late David and Sarah Baggett Myrick. She lived most of her life in the Chimes area, but more recently had made her home with her daughter, Irene Freeman Wilson, in Madera. She had been a longtime member of Liberty Missonary Baptist Church.
She was preceded in death by her husbands, and by all her brothers and sisters.
Survivors include a daughter, Irene and husband Veto Wilson; two sons, Harold Clutts and wife Nita of Fairfield, CA and Gene Clutts and wife of Guatemala, several grandchildren, nieces, nephews and stepchildren.
Services were held October 8 at Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, with Rev. Richard Shannon of First Missonary Baptist Church; interment was at Fresno Gardens.
Helen Halstead
Helen Faye Carroll Halstead, 65, of Springdale died Sunday, November 23, 2003 at Northwest Medical Center. She was born June 16, 1938 at Shirley, the daughter of the late Oscar Herman and Virginia Treat Carroll. She worked as a secretary in the manufacturing business for 37 years, was a homemaker and a Baptist.
She is survived by her husband, Victor Halstead of the home; by two daughters, Barbara Darlene Maidwell and husband Byron of Springdale and Lisa Nichols of Shirley; a brother, J.V. Carroll of Clinton; two sisters, Doris Jean Sutherland of Clinton and Joyce Thomas of Rogers, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services were held Tuesday, November 25 at Bradford cemetery near Shirley.
Arrangements were by Roller-McNutt of Clinton.
Wanda Smith
Wanda Marion Smith, 76, of Bee Branch died Sunday, November 23, 2003. She was born September 14, 1927 at Morganton, the daughter of the late James Henry Franklin and Mary Williams Franklin. She was preceded in death by four brothers and by two sisters, and by her husband, Stanley Smith.
She was a farmer, a loving mother and a Christian.
Survivors include a son, Bobby Smith of Bee Branch; two daughters, Helen M. Betzinger of Conway and Barbara Pool of Bee Branch; a brother, Q.T. Franklin of Indiana; a sister, Lettie McGibney of Quitman, and four grandchildren.
Services were held Wednesday, November 26 at Roller-McNutt Chapel; interment was at Colony cemetery by Roller-McNutt of Clinton.
Martha Johnson
Martha ‘Sue’ Walker Johnson, 72, of Reading, PA died Saturday, November 22 at her home. She was the wife of Charles R. Johnson, and was born in Russellville, the daughter of the late Sidney B. and Susan E. Basinger Walker.
She was employed from 1976 to 1992 by the Lutheran Home at Topton, PA. She had worked both in outreach and in the Meals on Wheels program and served as manager of the St. Paul’s Senior Center for 15 years. She was a founding partner and co-owner of Needlepoint Place, Inc. from 1973 to 1975, and taught at the state Vocational Training School in Clinton in the early 1950’s. She also taught at Bishop McGuiness High School, Winston-Salem, NC and at Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands.
She was active in the League of Women Voters in Texas and in Berks County, PA for many years, served on boards at her church and at the Generations Resource Exchange. She was a Girl Scout leader, a volunteer for Friends of Berks and the Reading Library, and the Berks County Historical Society, and was a charter member of the Profette Investment Club.
She was a 1949 honor graduate of CSVTS, later Clinton High School; a 1953 honor graduate of the University of Arkansas (BS, home economics) and was the national president of Phi Upsilon Omicron, president of the 4-H Co-op House and was a member of Who’s Who in Colleges and Universities. She was a Mortar Board and Danforth Scholar, and had attended postgraduate studies at the University of Texas at El Paso and Penn State University, Berks campus.
She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Susan Reagan, in 1955.
Survivors include a son, Sidney Walker Johnson of Denver, CO, and two daughters, Charla Marie Clark of Glenwood, IA and Carey SuEllen Babezak of Shillington, PA; a daughter-in-law and two sons-in-law.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, December 4 at Clinton United Methodist Church with Vaughn Marsden officiating. Interment will be at Clinton cemetery by Roller-McNutt of Clinton.
Pallbearers will include Kenton Tester, Bill Baker, Herb Eubanks, Donald Lewis, Carl Beavers and James Robert Hutson.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorials be made to the Sid Walker Scholarship Fund or to the Van Buren County Library at P.O. Box 2, Clinton, AR 72031.
Sheila Russell
Sheila Thressa Russell, 89, of Springfield, OR died November 28, 2003.
She was born at Scotland on October 11, 1914, the daughter of Thomas and Alcie Harris Casinger. She had lived in the Oregon since 1945, but was a graduate of Scotland High School. She retired as a supervisor for Bell Telephone in 1972 with 24 years of service.
She had been married
three times, to Ross Richey in 1935 in Oklahoma City, OK. They divorced, and she married
Richard Hayworth, who died in 1947, and in 1970 she married
Fred Russell. They divorced later.
She was preceded in death by brothers Leighton and Gleason Casinger and by sisters Thressa, Zila and Wanda Lee
Survivors include a brother, Gus Casinger of Oakland, WA, and two sisters, Roberta Detering of Harrisburg, OR and Willie ‘Billie’ Larue Lutz of Junction City, OR.
Private graveside services were held at Lane Chapel, with a public service set on Thursday, December 4, with interment at Lane Memorial Gardens.
Julia Bradford
Julia Bradford, 94, died Friday, November 28, 2003 at Ozark Health Medical Center in Clinton. She was born February 17, 1909 in Mountain View, the daughter of the late Tobe and Sarah Chambers. She was the widow of Ray Bradford, a homemaker and a member of the Church of Christ.
Survivors include her children, Donald Bradford of Evening Shade, Jondena Like of Flint, MI and Billy W. Bradford of Dates City, MO; a sister, Muriel Gaines of Parkin; ten grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Services were held Monday, December 1 at Eglantine Church of Christ with Ray Earnhart and Dub Clark officiating. Intement was at Eglantine cemetery by Roller-McNutt of Clinton.
Pallbearers included Carroll Gilcriest, Randal Rodgers, Jim Sexson, Emmett Bradford, Anthony York and Ocey Jones.
Evelyn Gentry
Evelyn Gentry, 88, of Greers Ferry died Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at Indian Rock Village in Fairfield Bay. She was born in Arkansas on May 8, 1915, the daughter of the late John and Emma Hooten.
She was a homemaker and a lifetime Arkansas resident. She was preceded in death by her husband Claude Gentry in 1984; she was a Christian.
Survivors include a sister, Lois Hunt of Greers Ferry, several nieces and nephews, other relatives and many friends.
Graveside services were held Thursday at Settlement cemetery; nephews served as pallbearers. Arrangements were by Olmstead Funeral Home of Heber Springs.
