Obituaries

OBITUARIES Information for the obituaries and funeral notices below was supplied to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Advertising Department by funeral homes. For more information including cost and deadlines contact the advertising department at (501) 378-3889. BENTONVILLE — Helen Mae Jones of Bentonville passed away on Dec. 30, 2017. She was born on May 11, 1926, in East St. Louis, Ill., to the late Joe and Helen Stua.

Helen will be remembered as a sparkling woman who loved life. After a childhood that found her riding a horse to school, she lived in New York and Baltimore before settling down in Bentonville in the early 1960s. Locally, she worked for Bentonville Casting Company, and then S.B. Howard & Co. She was devoted to her family as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was an avid reader, and also loved gardening, bowling, roller skating, and traveling with her family.

Her survivors include her son, Ronald Stowers and his partner Debra Tolliver of Bentonville; former daughter-in-law Sherry Harris; grandchildren, Steven Stowers, Jim Stowers, Mary Anne Ballard; one great-grandchild, Max Stowers-DeWolfe; her beloved cat, Ace; and many close friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, and her husband, Jim Cutshall.

The family will be receiving visitors from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at Rollins Funeral Home in Rogers. A celebration of Helen’s life will be conducted on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bella Vista Animal Shelter at http://www.bellavista-animalshelter.org/donate/

CLARKSVILLE — Layton

Dean Walker, 33, a resident of Clarksville passed away Thursday.

The funeral service will be 2 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, at Roller Funeral Home Chapel in Paris. Burial will be private in Oakwood Cemetery under the direction of Roller Funeral Home in Paris. Online guestbook available at www.rollerfuneralhomes. com/paris.

LITTLE ROCK — Lee

Arthur Munson was born on April 15, 1937, the eldest of three children, to an American father, A.L. Munson, and a Canadian mother, Anna Marie Carr, in Claresholm, Alberta, Canada. When he was two years old, the family moved to the orchard country of South Miami, Dade County, Fla. Here he learned to fish in all of Florida’s waters. He was educated in the South Miami school system, vying for academic honors with his neighbor and schoolmate Janet Reno, future U.S. Attorney General. His family moved to Booneville, Ark., in hopes of medical help at the sanatorium for his mother’s asthmatic heart condition. His mother died on Mother’s Day when he was 15, after which he was invited into the home of the then Chancery Judge (later Federal Judge) Paul X. Williams, his wife Beth, and their five children. Here he spent several happy years and enjoyed an enduring friendship with the family all his life. He worked at many jobs to achieve his education, graduating from Booneville High School in 1956, Arkansas Tech University in 1963, and the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1967. He was married on August 23, 1963, to Alice Ann Fiser of Russellville.

His legal career included Deputy Prosecuting Attorney under Richard Atkinson; Assistant Attorney General under Ray Thornton, where he represented the state medical, pharmacy and engineering boards; clerk for the Supreme Court of Arkansas under Justice Conley Byrd. He was 3 times elected Prosecuting Attorney for Pulaski and Perry Counties, Sixth Judicial District, from 19731978, and served 20 years as a Chancery Judge, Sixth Judicial District. He then was elected Municipal/District Judge and served from 1990 until his retirement in 2008.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-five years, Alice Ann, son Eric Munson and his wife Susie Douglas Munson, daughter Alissa Munson Coffield and her husband Matthew Coffield, and five grandchildren: Mary Grace Munson, Douglas Paul Munson, Stephen Lee Munson, Matthew Joshua Coffield and Jacob Christopher Coffield, all of Little Rock, his sister Judith Stewart of Fort Smith, and many loved nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents and his brother Don R. Munson.

Lee’s life was marked by a passion for justice, an empathy for those who struggle in life, and a willingness to offer options to those who wanted to improve their lives. He made many friends in the legal and judicial system through the years. The Supreme Court of Arkansas recently awarded him the status of Attorney Emeritus for fifty or more years of “dedication and honorable service to the legal profession as a licensed attorney.”

Lee was an avid outdoorsmen who enjoyed hunting and fishing, especially in the company of his friends and family. He found peace and beauty in nature and saw God’s hand in the creation of the physical world.

A service will be held Tuesday, Jan. 2, at 3 p.m., St. James United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts of remembrance be sent to the Fraternal Order of Police (LRFOP) Foundation, P.O. Box 3451, Little Rock, Ark., 72203, and to the Nature Conservancy in Arkansas, 601 North University, Little Rock, Ark., 72205.

To sign the online guest book, please visit www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/chenal.

ROGERS — Joe Shaffer, age 75, of Rogers, Ark., passed away Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017, in Bentonville. Joe was born Feb. 21, 1942, in Garfield, Ark., to Albert and Maggie Shaffer.

Mr. Shaffer was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Vivian and daughter, Sherry.

He is survived by his daughters; Belinda Shaffer, Carrie Shaffer, Amber Shaffer, and Tessa Freidenberger, eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and seven brothers and sisters.

Memorial ceremony will be held at Refuge Church, 4300 NE Hudson Rd., Rogers, Ark., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, at 2 p.m.