A list of obits from various sources pertaining about your former classmates in case you want to read about them. TO Top
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EDITOR'S NOTE--Thanks to Jim Bell for sharing this obituary with us!
ROGER CLIFTON MEARS, JR., born May 21, 1925 to Roger C. Mears, Sr. and Linnie Lankford Mears and a veteran of service in the United States Army, died at his home in the loving arms of his wife and children May 2, 2006. His siblings, Marcille Bellinger, Nancy Daniels and William Mears predeceased him.
He is survived by his devoted wife and best friend, Elsie Faye Weaver Mears, and four of his five children, Vicki Ann Mears Strickland (deceased), stepson, Carl Warren Williams, Jr. (Susan), Clifton Wayne Mears, Sr., stepson, Michael Freeman Williams, and Leslie Karen Mears Golden (Gary). He also cherished daughter-in-law Luvenia Mears. He is survived by adored grandchildren, Sara Freitag (Jeff), Susanna Hause, John Foster (Jill), Clifton Wayne Mears, Jr., Erin Marissa Golden, Shanna Michelle Mears, Blake Andrew Strickland, Sean Golden and Adam Freeman Golden. He was the beloved Papa to 8 great-grandchildren.
He was elected Pulaski County Judge in 1976. He served as Chairman of the Pulaski County Election Commission, 1970-1976, was Chair and elected member of the Pulaski County Democratic Committee, 1968-1976, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972 and 1976.
Roger, a member of Phi Kappa Alpha, graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 1949, after attending Little Rock High School, Class of 1945. An avid Razorback fan, he also served on the UA Fayetteville Alumni Association.
Roger shared a love for travel with Elsie, his beloved wife. They toured the world together and visited all 50 of the United States at least once. He always looked forward to annual family trips to the warm sands of Florida.
The family requests that memorials be made to Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church where he was embraced by church family and friends, to the UAMS Family Medicine Center where he was cared for so very well, and to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Alumni Association.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 5, 2006, at the Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, 4823 Woodlawn Avenue, Little Rock, Ark. (501) 664-3600, with Dr. Lynn Lindsey officiating. Burial will follow at Pinecrest Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 4, at the funeral home. To sign Mr. Mears' online guest book, visit www.griffinleggett.com
The last surviving daughter of a prominent Little Rock family passed away Monday night. Catherine Ann Terral Rawlings born August 3, 1928 in Little Rock was the youngest daughter of Little Rock attorney Floyd Terral and his wife Wade Pitcock Terral. She was also the niece of Arkansas Governor Tom Terral and the granddaughter of Jim Pitcock, a celebrated lawman who once pursued Bonnie and Clyde, and went on to become a Little Rock chief of police, and prison superintendent.
Mrs. Rawlings was preceded in death by her parents and her three sisters, Frances Siebeck, Janet Dwight, and Jo Ellen Fulton, and by her daughter Rebecca Ann Rawlings.
She is survived by her sons, William A. Rawlings, Sr. and Neal A. Rawlings and his wife Leslie, five grandsons, and a host of family and friends.
Mrs. Rawlings was a graduate of Oklahoma State University and a life long member of First United Methodist Church. She was a loving and devoted mother to her three children. A graveside service in remembrance will be held 1:00 p.m. Friday, August 3, 2004 at Roselawn Cemetery.
A gathering will be held for family and friends Thursday, September 2, 2004 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Albert Pike 701 Scott St. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201.
Arrangements by Griffin Leggett Healey and Roth 5800 West 12th Street, Little Rock, Arkansas 72204 (501) 661-9111.
Memorials maybe made to Susan G. Komen Foundation, 904 Autumn Season Road, Suite 500, Little Rock, AR 72211
James "Jimmy" M. Wren, 73, LRHS Class of '45, has died. He was a native of Little Rock & died January 28, 2002. He is survived by his wife Marylou Mason Wren, and two daughters. He also had three sons, now all deceased and a host of other relatives.
Jimmy, a graduate of Northwestern University, lived in Mechanicsville, Va. and was a member of the National Association of accountants. He served in the US Army.
A memorial service for Jimmy was held in Little Rock.
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Frances Bickel Johnson reported the death of Classmate James T. Jaynes who died November 8. He was a member of 1946 Class at LRHS!
Mary Jo's obituary appeared in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Jim Bell '47
NASHVILLE - Josephine Scott Moore, of Nashville, Term., died March 24, 2005 at home. She was born November 6, 1929 in Little Rock, Ark. She is preceded in death by parents, Otis and Ruth Scott; husband, Rayburn Moore, who she married on Dec. 3, 1949; brother, Dr. Warren Scott: and a sister. Pat Wells.
She is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Jennie and George Ivey and Mandy and Tim Hastings; one son and daughter-in-law, Rusty and Amy Moore; eight grandchildren, Meg, Leigh and James Ivey, Jake, Lindsey and Will Moore, and Blake and Matthew Hastings.
She was a homemaker and an active member of Calvary United Methodist Church.
Visitation was held at Fellowship Hall, Calvary United Methodist Church, 3701 Hillsboro Road, Nashville, Tenn. 37215 on Friday, March 25, 4-7 p.m. A memorial service will be held at the church on Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Putman County Library. Woodbine Funeral Home, Hickory Chapel Directors, (615) 331-1952.
EDITOR's NOTE -- Thanks to Francis Bickel Johnson for forwarding the information about Polly Cobb Rodgers. She was in Class '46 at LRHS. She died 12/27/04. You may want to read her OBIT at Griffin-Leggett Funeral Home!
EDITOR's NOTE -- Thanks to Francis Bickel Johnson for forwarding the information about Robert Lanier Jones. He was in Class 46 at LRHS. He died 2/26/04. You may want to read his Obit at Griffin-Leggett Funeral Home
EDITOR's NOTE -- Thanks to Paul D. Snodgrass '48 for forwarding the information about Alice Ann Conway Papan
Alice Ann Conway Papan, 74, died Monday, November 18, 2002. Boar in Little Rock, October 25, 1928, daughter of the late Claibourne Watkins Conway and the late Mildred Hollis Conway, she was a descendant of many pioneer Arkansas families, including Curran, Sevier, Watkins, Hollis, and Talliaferro families, and was he great granddaughter of the first governor of the State of Arkansas, James Sevier Conway, and the great, great granddaughter of Arkansas' last Territorial Governor and first U. S. Senator, William Savin Fulton.
Mrs. Papan attended Little Rock High School, St. Catherine's School, in Richmond, Virginia, and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she was affiliated with Chi Omega Sorority. She continued to be very active with the Little Rock Chi Omega Alumnae Club, in which she held chairmanships.
She was a volunteer with the Girl Scouts of America and served for several years as a Troop Leader.
A lifetime member of Christ Episcopal Church, where she was a former member of the Vestry, Mrs. Papan was much involved with Episcopal Church Women, serving as chairman of St. Agnes Guild, decorations chairman for parish functions, and on the Hospitality Committee.
Mrs. Papan was a member of The Arkansas Society of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, and was the organization's program chairman for many years.
For more than 30 years, Mrs. Papan was employed by Little Rock Dermatology Clinic.
Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Curran and Ellen Papan of Little Rock, a daughter and son-in-law, Leslee and Kelly Brown of Fayetteville, three granddaughters, Christin Papan of Little Rock, and Natalie and Madalyn Brown of Fayetteville. She is also survived by two sisters and brothers-in-law, Carolynn Conway Coleman and Walter C. "Buddy" Coleman, Jr., and Hollis Conway Kennedy and James N. Kennedy, Jr., all of Little Rock, and seven nieces and nephews.
There will be a visitation at Ruebel Funeral Home from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 21st. The funeral service will be at Christ Episcopal Church, at 5th and Scott Street, on Friday, the 22nd, at 10 a.m. with the Rev. Larry Benefield officiating. Following the church service, burial will be at Mt. Holly Cemetery, at 12th and Broadway.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, Fifth & Scott, L. R., the Humane Society of Pulaski County, 14600 Colonel Glenn Road, L. R., or the Chi Omega Foundation, P. O. Box 2121, Memphis, Tennessee 38159.
EDITOR's NOTE -- Thanks to Lee Ripley '47 for forwarding the information about John McClanahan....
The Rev. John Howard McClanahan was an ordinary man called by God to do great things. McClanahan pastored the First Baptist Church of Pine Bluff television ministry for 30 years and directed the longestrunning Sunday morning Gospel broadcast in Arkansas. "He looked at me once and said, ‘We’ve been on the air longer than Gunsmoke,’" recalled Dale Nicholson, president and general manager of KATV Channel 7. "He was right. I can’t remember a time when the First Baptist Church of Pine Bluff wasn’t on our schedule. "He was a gracious man. He never seemed to have a bad day. If he did, he didn’t show it," Nicholson added. He was assistant professor of psychology, relations and pastoral care at the seminary. Before moving to Pine Bluff, McClanahan pastored churches in Hope and Ashdown in Arkansas and in Powersville and Louisville in Kentucky. In 1954, he married Rosalind Owens from Alabama. They divorced in 1995, and McClanahan married Sissie Atkinson of Pine Bluff in 1999. He had two sons and two daughters. McClanahan and his family moved to Pine Bluff in the 1960s during a time of racial unrest. "He was a calm and unifying force," said his daughter, Rosalind Mouser of Pine Bluff. "There was no mistake where he stood on that [racial] issue." The Rev. L.K. Solomon, pastor of Indiana Street Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, said McClanahan spoke at a gathering after the fatal shooting of a black teenager to help quell the anger. McClanahan died Monday at Jefferson Regional Medical Center from a brain injury. He was 72. A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. today at First Baptist Church. Born on Nov. 12, 1929, at Roe, he was son of Jim Fowler and Hazel Loe McClanahan. He had a brother and a sister. McClanahan, who grew up in Little Rock and Sherwood, had a strong religious upbringing. He attended Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, and by age 14, he felt his calling to the ministry. He was president of his senior class at Little Rock High School, where he graduated cum laude in 1946. Four years later, he graduated from Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia. And in 1957, he completed his doctorate in divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He later was an of black residents. "He was humble, soft-spoken, but he had nerves of steel," Solomon said. "He was not combative. Everybody was surprised, including myself, that he would speak at this gathering." After he retired, McClanahan taught at the Pine Bluff and White Hall public schools, at Southeast Arkansas College and at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He was interim pastor at Green Meadows Baptist Church and a board member of the Jefferson County Habitat for Humanities. "He believed that God spoke through others or the still, small voice," Mouser said. "He could always see the best [in people] even if the worst was always visible."
McClanahan pastored the First Baptist Church of Pine Bluff television ministry for 30 years and directed the longestrunning Sunday morning Gospel broadcast in Arkansas.
"He looked at me once and said, ‘We’ve been on the air longer than Gunsmoke,’" recalled Dale Nicholson, president and general manager of KATV Channel 7. "He was right. I can’t remember a time when the First Baptist Church of Pine Bluff wasn’t on our schedule.
"He was a gracious man. He never seemed to have a bad day. If he did, he didn’t show it," Nicholson added. He was assistant professor of psychology, relations and pastoral care at the seminary.
Before moving to Pine Bluff, McClanahan pastored churches in Hope and Ashdown in Arkansas and in Powersville and Louisville in Kentucky.
In 1954, he married Rosalind Owens from Alabama. They divorced in 1995, and McClanahan married Sissie Atkinson of Pine Bluff in 1999.
He had two sons and two daughters.
McClanahan and his family moved to Pine Bluff in the 1960s during a time of racial unrest.
"He was a calm and unifying force," said his daughter, Rosalind Mouser of Pine Bluff. "There was no mistake where he stood on that [racial] issue." The Rev. L.K. Solomon, pastor of Indiana Street Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, said McClanahan spoke at a gathering after the fatal shooting of a black teenager to help quell the anger.
McClanahan died Monday at Jefferson Regional Medical Center from a brain injury. He was 72.
A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. today at First Baptist Church.
Born on Nov. 12, 1929, at Roe, he was son of Jim Fowler and Hazel Loe McClanahan. He had a brother and a sister.
McClanahan, who grew up in Little Rock and Sherwood, had a strong religious upbringing. He attended Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, and by age 14, he felt his calling to the ministry.
He was president of his senior class at Little Rock High School, where he graduated cum laude in 1946.
Four years later, he graduated from Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia. And in 1957, he completed his doctorate in divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He later was an of black residents.
"He was humble, soft-spoken, but he had nerves of steel," Solomon said. "He was not combative. Everybody was surprised, including myself, that he would speak at this gathering."
After he retired, McClanahan taught at the Pine Bluff and White Hall public schools, at Southeast Arkansas College and at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
He was interim pastor at Green Meadows Baptist Church and a board member of the Jefferson County Habitat for Humanities.
"He believed that God spoke through others or the still, small voice," Mouser said. "He could always see the best [in people] even if the worst was always visible."