CONWAY — Elna Juanita Lody,

90, of Conway, Ark., went to be with the Lord on Sunday, February 7, 2021. She was born on October 22, 1930, in Oil Trough, Ark., to William Elmer and Annis Green.

Juanita graduated Oil Trough High School as Valedictorian of her senior class of 1948. One of her favorite memories was being on the girl’s basketball team at Oil Trough. She worked for the Wel-Bilt Company in Little Rock in her younger years. At the age of forty, she learned how to drive and secured a job at Asher Cleaners in Little Rock. She used her savings to attend the St. Vincent School of Nursing and graduated as a Licensed Practical Nurse in 1975. Juanita worked for seventeen years as a nurse on the orthopedic unit four West at St. Vincent Hospital in Little Rock before retiring at age 62. She was loved by her co-workers and patients. She was very conscientious and received numerous acknowledgements for consecutive years of perfect attendance during her career. However, during all of this her primary job was being a devoted and loving mother to her two children. Juanita and her husband loved to travel, especially by train, out west. They also took several memorable driving trips together. She was an enthusiastic traveling companion. She enjoyed flying to Las Vegas and going to shows while having incredible luck at times with the slot machines. During their seventy years together, she and her husband, Dean loved and cared for many cats. They also had a few dogs. Notably a feisty Chihuahua named Barney who despised everyone in the world, but loved her devotedly.

Juanita was preceded in death by her parents, and her husband of seventy years, Raymond Dean Lody.

She is survived by her son, Wesley Lody (Debra), her daughter, Cathy Callahan (Douglas), her sister, Linda Sue Johnson, several loving nieces and nephews, and a lifetime of friends. Each will miss her kind, gentle nature and great sense of humor. The family wishes to thank the Visiting Angels of Conway and Hospice Home Care for their many months of loving care of Juanita and her family.

Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, February 13, 2021, at Maple Springs Cemetery, with Bro. Vance Penn officiating. To sign the guest register or leave a condolence message, please visit: www.jacksonsfh.com. Arrangements by Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home.