FORT SMITH — Mavis Irene Radford Barnes

was born July 21, 1924 and passed away on December 3, 2022. Mavis was born in Selma, N. C., the daughter of Bessie Ann Ryals and Fletcher Radford.

She married Maurice Russell Barnes on June 15, 1945 in Charleston, S.C.

Mavis’s early childhood was spent on her grandparents’ Ryals and Radford farms where the hard work of cultivating large fields of cotton and tobacco was a way of life. Her father left the family, then Bessie then married Willie Morris and the family moved to Selma, N.C.

After high school, Mavis moved to Wilmington, N.C., to be near her Aunt Teny and started her long career as a “Bell of Southern Bell” telephone operator, with the exception of a couple of breaks, until 1965. But in Wilmington a friend introduced Mavis to Coast Guardsman Maurice Barnes, who was stationed on Hilton Head Island, S.C. They married in the First Baptist Church in Charleston on July 15, 1945. With the end of World War II, they moved back to Fayetteville, Ark., near Maurice’s family, and where all four of their children were born.

Maurice and Mavis moved to Berryville, Ark., in 1965 where he managed an LP Gas company and she began her nursing career. First as a nurse’s aide and ambulance driver for Carroll County Hospital, and then after raising four children, she completed her Associate degree in Nursing at the University of Arkansas. She then became the first school nurse for the Berryville schools, a job she absolutely loved!

After they both retired, Mavis and Maurice moved back to their original home in Fayetteville, before moving to a new house in nearby Farmington. They were both active in the Farmington Senior Citizens Center, with Mavis playing guitar and singing in the band. They were volunteers for the VA Hospital and Meals on Wheels, and regularly traveled to visit their children and friends.

Mavis continued her active lifestyle after Maurice’s death, but in 2017 moved to senior living in Hot Springs to be near her son, Sammy. She continued line dancing, playing her guitar, and visiting grandkids.

Mavis is survived by daughter, Janis Petronis ( Richard) of Stephenville, Texas; sons Larry of Bentonville, Ark.; Sammy of Hot Springs, Ark.; and Danny of Phoenix, Ariz. She is survived by grandchildren Renee Warner, Kelli Cubeta and Richie Petronis in Texas; Lauren Brown and Lindsey Black in Arkansas; and Crystal Barnes and Kim Barnes in California, and 10 great-grandchildren. Mavis was preceded in death by her parents, husband Maurice, brother William Maytlon Radford, and granddaughter Heather (Barnes) Wright.

The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at Beard’s Chapel.

Funeral services will be at noon, Wednesday, December 7, 2022 at Main Street Baptist Church in Farmington, Ark. Interment will follow at the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Fayetteville, Ark., where her husband Maurice rests since his passing in 2011.

Condolences at www.beardsfuneralchapel.com