Mildred A. Blankenship

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Heber Springs

Mildred Arnold Blankenship of Heber Springs died Wednesday, March 7, 2007. Born in 1917 in the Macey community near Monette, she was the daughter of the late Edward and Rosalie McDonal Arnold. She lived in Jonesboro and Corning before moving to Heber Springs with her late husband, Tucker Blankenship, in 1975. She was a lifelong Methodist, always active in her church and its programs, serving as an officer in various women's organizations and singing in the choir.

After the death of her husband in 1979, she continued to live in Heber Springs where she enjoyed a host of friends and was a member of a bridge club.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by brothers, James A. "Jimmy" Arnold, Gene E. "Bo" Arnold, and John M. Arnold.

She is survived by a son, Charles E. Blankenship and wife, Elizabeth, of Heber Springs; granddaughter, Charlotte Blankenship Griffith and husband, John, of Jonesboro; great-granddaughter, Katherine Tubbs of Memphis; and granddaughters, Ashley Blankenship and Gretchen Humphries and husband, Will, of Heber Springs; sisters, Rosalie Patterson and husband J. W., Barbara Huffstickler, wife of the late Elbert Huffstickler, and Polly Ferguson and husband, John, of St. Louis.

The funeral was held in First United Methodist Church of Heber Springs at 2 p.m. on Thursday with David Bush officiating. Interment followed in Cleburne County Memorial Gardens.

Pallbearers were William H. Humphries, Benny Hargrove, A.B. Carnathan, Rick York, Jim Ligon and Jeff Arnold. Jerry Morris served as honorary pallbearer.

Anyone wishing to make memorials is asked to consider the Mildred Blankenship Memorial Fund at Heber Springs State Bank, in care of Bill Lynch, for the Mildred Blankenship Memorial at Baptist Medical Center of Heber Springs.