VERA FERRIS
Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:52 PM CDT
MAYFLOWER — Vera G. Smith Ferris, 87, of Mayflower, Ark., died Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, at Woodland Hills Nursing Home in Little Rock.
She was born Nov. 13, 1921, in Fordyce, to Henderson Howell and Edna Elizabeth Reynolds Smith.
She spent her early childhood in Fordyce, graduating from Princeton High School before moving to Pine Bluff in 1941. She lived most of her adult life in Pine Bluff until moving to Maumelle in 2007, and then to Mayflower in 2008.
Mrs. Ferris had worked 19 years at United Water in Pine Bluff before retiring in 1979 as a cashier.
She was a former member of Olive Street Missionary Baptist Church, now known as Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church in Pine Bluff and in more recent years a member of Victory Baptist Church in Sherwood.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur C. Ferris, whom she married on Dec. 23, 1948, in Pine Bluff; her parents; sisters, Anna Irene Smith Kellogg, Roberta Elizabeth Smith Evans; brothers, Henderson H. “Bud” Smith and William E. “Bill” Smith.
Survivors include son, Richard H. “Rick” Ferris of Mayflower; a daughter, Melissa A. “Lisa” Ferris Ford of West Memphis; sister, Loretta Smith Epps of North Little Rock; brother, Hollie Smith of Des Moines, Iowa; grandchildren, Genni M. Ferris Sutanto, Laura A. Ferris Kumpe, Kayla D. Ferris Reynolds, Ashleigh Erin Ford; and two great-grandchildren, Hiro James Henderson Linker and Lydia Jayne Kumpe and one great grandchild on the way, Naaman Arthur Sutanto.
Visitation will be today 6 to 8 p.m. at Robinson’s.
Services will be 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, Chapel of Ralph Robinson & Son with Rev. Robert Harris and Rev. Josh Yowell officiating. Burial will follow in Bellwood Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Victory Missionary Baptist Church, 515 Sherwood Avenue, Sherwood, Ark., 72120-5802; or Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church, 5130 Bobo Road, Pine Bluff, Ark., 71603-7218.
Online guest register at www.ralphrobinsonandson.com