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 — Linda Jean Hawkins was born Aug. 1, 1950, to Warren and Edna Yingst of Bentonville, Ark.

She was a lifelong resident of Bentonville and was a beautician for 49 years, operating her own salon, Magic Mirror, for a majority of her career.

She was a member of Word of Life Fellowship in Bentonville where she and her husband, Buddy, founded the coffee bar ministry. She was very active in the church, had a deep love for Christ and looked forward to being with Him in Heaven. She was preceded in death by her father, Warren Yingst.

She is survived by her mother, Edna Yingst; husband of 52 years, Lawrence “Buddy” Hawkins; son Ronnie and wife Kari Hawkins; grandson Wesley Hawkins; granddaughter Baileigh and husband Curry Cato; brother Jerry and wife Charlene Yingst; sister Beverly and husband Bill Rogers; brother Buddy and wife Mary Yingst; sister Anita and husband Steve Rider; brother Stanley and wife Shiela Yingst; sister Cheryl and husband Stephen Barnes; sister-in-law Joann and husband Melvin Norris; sister-in-law Barbara Ward; sister-in-law Judy Thomas; sister-in-law Donna Ensign; sister-in-law Vicki and husband Tony Scates; sister-inlaw Sherry and husband Dell Morrison; brother-in-law Gary and wife Kathy Hawkins; honorary sisters and lifelong friends Gail Brewer, Michaele Ann Buell-McFeeters, Sharla Welch and Judy Gucker; many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends who loved her dearly.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, at the Word of Life Church in Bentonville, Ark. Visitation will be 10 a.m. prior to the service with interment to follow at the Bentonville Cemetery in Bentonville. Arrangements by Benton County Funeral Home, 306 N. 4th St., Rogers, Ark. Online condolences to www.Bentoncountyfuneralhome.com.

ELKINS — Susan Elaine Kirksey Dearing, 67, lifelong native of Elkins and a kind and thoughtful friend to all passed away Feb. 15, 2020. Born to James and Pauline Scranton Kirksey on Dec. 23, 1952, Susan completed the family as the beautiful baby sister to older siblings Shirley and Sheridan.

Susan graduated from Elkins High School in 1970 and soon after joined the Army National Guard. On May 9, 1983, Susan married Jimmy Dearing. With him she found the perfect partner. He showered her with adoration and nurtured that spark that made everyone instantly love Susan. In turn, Jimmy got to ride in the passenger seat of her fun-loving life. He also shared the more special time — the love, quietude, and consistency of home where there was always a Razorback game playing in the background.

A hard-worker, she moved into her career early, working as the Office Administrator at Northwest Arkansas Pathology for 30 years, where she wore many hats. Retirement didn’t slow her down. Always drawn to helping others, she started volunteering at the American Legion Post 27. She was a whirlwind of help, giving rides to doctors’ appointments, delivering Christmas presents and coming in early to do the books. Like everywhere she went, when she walked through the door at the Legion, everyone called out her name-for a laugh, a story, or a hug.

She also found deep joy and peace at the Baldwin Church of Christ. Susan recalled the first time she attended, she felt like the preacher was talking directly to her. There, at church, she felt like her ever-extending family grew by 90 more people. She was refreshed by her deepened relationship with God.

Above all else, Susan was generous. She was generous in her friendships, never having met a stranger. She was generous in her love and loyalty to her family and was generous of her possessions for those who were in need.

Her tragic death left a sudden hole for all who knew her and the community to which she gave so much of herself. Many people are the recipients of her thoughtful generosity and will feel her loss deeply.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Pauline Kirksey, and husband, Jimmy.

She is survived by sister Shirley Steele and husband Troy; brother Sheridan Kirksey and wife Judy; nieces Krista, Jami and Kiley; great-nieces Addy and Emma; and step-sons David and Brandon.

The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, at Beard’s Chapel. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, at Cornerstone Church of Christ (formerly Baldwin Church of Christ) with minister Keith Caselman officiating. Interment will follow in Mount Olive Cemetery under the direction of Beard’s Chapel. Condolences at www. beardsfuneralchapel.com.

FAYETTEVILLE — Gianpaolo “Gianni” Danti, 77, of Fayetteville, Ark., passed from this life Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. He was born May 24, 1942, in Florence, Italy, a son of the late Dino Danti and Iolanda Bezzinni Danti.

Gianpaolo was a retired farmer.

Survivors are his daughter Rachel Danti Szabo of Rogers, Ark.; stepson Aaron Long of Lowell, Ark.; step-daughter April Price of Fayetteville, Ark.; sister Ana Governi of Florence, Italy; 10 grandchildren and nephew Andrea Governi of Florence, Italy.

Memorial service will be 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at Moore’s Funeral Chapel with Rev. Don George officiating. To place an online tribute, visit www.mooresfuneralchapel.com.

FAYETTEVILLE — Ernest “Ernie” Eugene Jacks Jr. of Fayetteville passed away peacefully at Washington Regional Medical Center early on the morning of Feb. 14, 2020, at age 94. Ernie was born in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 14, 1925, and grew up in West Memphis, Ark.

He was also known as “Buddy” by his wife, Nita Jacks. They were married 72 years.

His father owned grocery stores and Ernie loved accompanying his father on weekly grocery buying trips. As the Great Depression hit, their family kept many other families with food, either on credit or by giving it to them, which in turn led to their own hard times. Ernie also lived in towns in Texas, Mississippi and others in Arkansas.

Ernie was called into World War II in 1944, serving as a Naval aviation radar technician, petty officer 1st class, Flight Test Squadron. After leaving the Navy in 1946, he attended Arkansas State University, where he met Nita Allen. They were married in 1947 and moved to Fayetteville, where Ernie entered the fledgling architecture program at the University of Arkansas.

After graduating cum laude in 1950 with a bachelor’s in architecture, he worked as a draftsman with the Edward Durrell Stone and Erhart, Eichenbaum and Rauch offices in Little Rock, where he worked on the University of Arkansas Medical Center design. He was called back into the Navy in 1951 during the Korean War, this time serving as a structural draftsman 1st class at Kodiak Island, Alaska, and Coronado Island, Calif., where Nita joined him.

After the war, Ernie joined the Los Angeles office of Craig Ellwood, where he worked on the historic Case Study House program of the professional journal Arts &

Architecture. In 1953, Ernie and Nita moved to Norman, Okla., for Ernie’s brief graduate studies in design with Bruce Goff at the University of Oklahoma. In 1954, they moved to Little Rock, where Ernie again worked in the EER office as a draftsman and designer. He worked on further UA Medical School designs, Roosevelt Road High School, Little Rock Air Force Base, North Little Rock Housing Project ARK 2-2 and the Collie Office Building designs.

In 1955, the couple returned to Fayetteville where Ernie became an associate of and opened an office for Edward Durrell Stone. Mr. Stone then dispatched Ernie to open a Stone office in Palo Alto, Calif., where Nita joined him as he worked on the Stanford Medical Center design. In 1956, they returned to Fayetteville where Ernie worked in the Stone office on the Carlson Terrace and Sigma Nu designs.

Daughter Jennifer was born in 1958. Early in 1959, Ernie, Nita, Jennifer and cat “Potsy” took the train to move to the main Stone office in Manhattan, N.Y. While there, he worked on the designs for the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, the U.S. Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair, the International College in Beirut, the National Museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the Gallery of Modern Art in Manhattan, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the North Carolina Legislative Capitol and the House of Representatives buildings in Raleigh, N.C. and the Beckman Auditorium at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Ernie also travelled extensively with Mr. Stone to manage different projects in London, Scotland, Beirut, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Toledo and Lisbon.

In the spring of 1961, Ernie was offered a teaching position at the University of Arkansas, but instead chose to join the Holloway-Reeves office in Raleigh, N.C. There, he worked on the Central Prison Psychiatric Hospital, Chamber of Commerce building, Catholic High School, 4-H summer camp, St. Mary’s College Library, Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Center and Presbyterian Church designs.

After being offered a professorship in the Architecture Department at the University of Arkansas, Ernie accepted, and the family returned to Fayetteville at the end of 1961. Ernie and Nita purchased a home on the top of Mount Sequoyah. In early 1962, Ernie began as a professor and opened his own architectural practice office on the Fayetteville square.

He worked on the remodeling for the Architecture Department office and designed the Patrick House, the Chambers House, the Ozark Folk Center and a bank in Mountain View, the Fine Arts Center at the University of Arkansas in Monticello, the third phase of Carlson Terrace, the Kappa Sigma House, St. Joseph Catholic Church on Lafayette Street, the Fayetteville Housing Authority’s Willow Heights complex, the Hillcrest Towers Public Housing building and a number of other projects in Arkansas.

He also worked on the Northwest Arkansas Architects’ Council and led the development of a viable plan for the downtown Fayetteville square. In 1973, he took a sabbatical to work in the Wittenburg, Delony and Davidson office in Little Rock, where he worked on the Central High School Band Building design.

Ernie was an extremely devoted professor, saying if the students had to be in the architecture building working on drafts/designs in the evening, then he needed to be there to help them. At times, especially during charettes, it was a rare occasion for Nita and Jennifer to have him home to eat dinner!

He was one of a small group of architectural faculty members who guided the school into national prominence during the 1950s and 1960s. Ernie was one of the leaders for the Architecture Department’s move into Vol Walker Hall in the late 1960s and shift to becoming the School of Architecture in 1974. In 1975, he shuttered his practice and devoted himself wholly to his teaching duties.

From 1975 to 1988, Ernie served as the associate dean of the college and also served as faculty adviser for Tau Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1989, he stepped down from the deanship and returned to his favorite work, teaching the students. In 1991, he worked briefly on the renovation of the UA Fine Arts Center during a second sabbatical.

He was a design consultant for various other architects around the country. In 1992, Ernie officially “retired,” but continued to teach his lecture courses as an emeritus professor. Finally, following the spring semester of 1995, he truly retired from the university.

The family wishes to deeply thank the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design for its Ernie Jacks Distinguished Lecture series.

From 1964 to 1990, Ernie served as member and chairman of the Fayetteville Planning Commission, and was instrumental in developing two of the city’s general growth plans (1970 and 1990), as well as its sign ordinance, greenspace/parks ordinance, screening and landscaping ordinances and bypass ordinance.

Ernie had several hobbies he truly enjoyed — flying airplanes and parachuting in his younger years, inboard-cruiser boating on Beaver Lake from 1966 to 2004 (including annual grand springtime pre-graduation parties with his students), walking the hills of Fayetteville and playing tennis for exercise, reading on the subjects of history, wars, mathematics, the sciences, philosophy, animals, politics and, of course, architecture and using a computerized flight simulator and yoke to “fly to” exotic places all over the world.

He always said, “I am happiest when I am learning something.” Ernie authored two books, Remembering Craig Ellwood and The Elegant Bohemian, a book about Mr. Stone. He thoroughly enjoyed weekly lunches with Nita, when they would be elegantly dressed and Ernie would remove her coat and seat her as a true gentleman.

Ernie was amazed when two of his designs/houses were put on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016, the Oscar Chambers House in Fort Smith was placed and, in 2017, the James Patrick House in Fayetteville was also added to it.

Ernie is survived by wife Nita; daughter and son-in-law Jennifer and Don Shreve; and Russian Blue cat Anastasia; all of Fayetteville. The family wishes to thank Bettina Lehovec for her devoted care of Ernie over the past 18 months and the doctors and nurses at Washington Regional.

A memorial service is being planned by his former students and an announcement of this is forthcoming. Memorial donations may be made to either the Fayetteville Animal Services/Shelter or the Fay Jones School of Architecture in Fayetteville, Ark.

HINDSVILLE — James Ervil Mounce, 84, of Hindsville passed away Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale. He was born April 24, 1935, in Delaney, Ark. to Rueben Richard and Jessie VanBrunt Mounce.

James retired in 1989 from Fayetteville Street Department and continued to work his poultry farm. He was a member of Astounding Grace Church in Hindsville. He enjoyed camping, riding four-wheelers and family outings.

He was preceded in death by brother Junior Mounce and Robert Mounce and sister Katherine Lacy.

Survivors include wife Rebecca L. (Bartlett) Mounce of the home; children Leda Burns and husband John of Carthage, Mo., Brenda Wagner of Louisville, Ky., James Mounce Jr. of the home and Melissa James-Miles and husband Ron of Rogers; sisters Jo McConnell of Fayetteville and Linda Hattabaugh and husband James of Tontitown; brother Gary Mounce and wife Mary of Elkins; 12 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at 11 a.m. at Astounding Grace Church in Hindsville with Pastor Butch Bolinger officiating. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Astounding Grace Church Youth Service. Online condolences may be left at www. siscofuneral.com.

HUNTSVILLE — Katie Nelson, 93, of Huntsville died Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, at Huntsville. She was born Thursday, Dec. 23, 1926, in Alpena to Clarence and Mary McGehee Edmondson.

Katie married Carl Paschal Nelson in Gentry on May 26, 1951. Together they raised six sons and one daughter.

She was a homemaker who enjoyed flower gardening and quilting. Katie’s main pleasure in life was investing in the lives of others. She never met a stranger, always cared for others first, and as a pastor’s wife found her ministry in doing the job no one else wanted to do. Katie was a member of First Baptist Church of Huntsville.

Katie was predeceased by husband Carl, her firstborn, stillborn infant daughter Pamela Kay Nelson, who she never got to hold in life, and so very much looked forward to reuniting with in Heaven. She was also preceded in death by sisters Maxine Sherman and Nell Jordan; brothers Eudean Edmondson and Gene Edmondson; step-sons Jerry Nelson and Carl Nelson Jr. and son-in-law Ralph Shilling.

Katie is survived by sons and two daughters-in-law Gayle Nelson of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Randy and Janet Nelson of Livingston, Texas, Billy Mark and JoLynne Nelson of Huntsville and Steve Nelson of Huntsville; daughter Mary Ann Shilling of Springdale; brother and sisters-in-law Bud and Imogene Edmondson of Siloam Springs and Mary Edmondson of Siloam Springs; brother-in-law Cecil Jordan of Decatur; nine grandchildren; two step-grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, at Brashears Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, at First Baptist Church Huntsville with Jack McCarty and Roger Robbins officiating.

Pallbearers will be sons and grandsons. Interment will follow services at Gentry Cemetery. Services are entrusted to Brashears Funeral Home and Crematory of Huntsville.

SILOAM SPRINGS — Mrs. Linda J. Goldsborough, age 71, of Siloam Springs, Ark., passed away Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, at Siloam Springs Health and Rehab. She was born Jan. 18, 1949, in California to William and Audrey Sanders Amweg.

She was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

Mrs. Goldsborough was preceded in death by her parents.

Mrs Goldsborough is survived by daughter Barbara Kildow and husband Michael; grandchildren Michael Jr., Abigail and Joseph Kildow; and great-grandchild Kenna Kildow.

A private family graveside will be held at a later date at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Mount Ida, Ark. Arrangements by Benton County Memorial Park Funeral Home in Rogers, Ark.

SPRINGDALE — Cozette Caron, 80, died Feb. 6, 2020, in Springdale. She was born June 19, 1939, in Garfield, the daughter of James W. Bolinger and Jessie Lee Hamilton.

Cozette was a retired special education teacher.

She was preceded in death by her parents, daughter Jessica Johnson and brother Joe Bolinger.

She is survived by son Chad Caron of Denver, Colo.; three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren and a sister.

A graveside service will be held Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, at Friendship Cemetery with Rev. Bob Holloway officiating.