Joan Frances Arnold Hays obituary

 Joan Francis Arnold Hays

Olmstead Funeral Home - Heber Springs

601 W. Main St.

Heber Springs, AR

JOAN HAYS OBITUARY

Joan Francis Hays, age 99, of Rose Bud, Arkansas, passed away Wednesday, January 4, 2023. Born on August 6, 1923, in Step Rock, Arkansas, she was the daughter of the late George and Jessie Tamsett Arnold.

Joan was a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother, great grandmother, great great-grandmother. She worked as a factory worker for Aeroquip for many years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Virgil Hays:; a brother, Amos; sisters Opie, Obie, Arbie, Wilma; half-sisters Ruby, Cora Mae, Delena, Bertha Lee; and half-brother Raymond.

She is survived by her sister Verlie Garrett, age 101, of Banner, Arkansas, and children Mammie Felton of South Haven, Michigan, Robert (Lynn) Hays, wife Phyllis of Zeeland, Michigan, Kenneth Hays, wife Betty of Wilburn, Arkansas, Betty Wieghmint, husband Wes of Wilburn, Arkansas, Lila Schneider, husband Frank of Rose Bud, Arkansas, 18 grandchildren, 41 great grandchildren, 39 great great-grandchildren. Many other family members and friends.

The family would like to thank Hospice: Lennetta, Megan, Donna, Brandi, and Chaplain Chad, for the wonderful care that they provided.

Visitation was held from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, January 9, 2023 with funeral services at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Olmstead Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Magness Cemetery. Arrangements are by Olmstead Funeral Home. www.olmstead.cc

Published by The Sun Times on Jan. 10, 2023.

On This Day in Family History - January 31

 Ethelyn Hurlbut Wood was born 31 January 1876

Ethelyn was the daughter of Etta Eunice Thomas and Myrick Henry Hurlbut

Etta was a sister to my great-grandfather Charles Thomas

Ethelyn married Loren Wood 28 November 1912 and they had three children: 

Ida, Densie May, and Myrick.

Ethelyn Hurlbut Wood died 24 Dec 1918 (aged 42)

She is buried in Arlington Hill Cemetery, Bangor, Michigan

On This Day in Family History - January 30

Elizabeth Angeline Wylie Burns died 30 January 1924, age 76

She was the wife of Rev. Jesse Burton Burns

They were married 23 May 1865 and had nine children: Nancy, Mary, John, Marion, Jennie, Josephine, Lucy, Surena, and Dovie

Jesse was a brother of my great-great-grandmother Malisa Evaline Burns Hicks

Malisa was the wife of John Henry Hicks.

Our Hicks family genealogy records do not go back any farther than this. From here we can trace the Burns family genealogy back three more generations, and then it branches off to the Webb family -- Mary Webb, the wife of Charles Burns. Her family's lineage goes back one more generation to her father Merriweather Wenn Webb, born in 1697 in Virginia, in British Colonial America.

Pretty cool, huh?

On This Day in Family History - January 29

 William George Thomas was born 29 January 1863

William was a brother of my great-grandfather Charles Thomas

He married Jeanette 'Nettie' Durren 

William and Jeanette had six children: Donald, twins Lottie & Luttie, Etta, Thelma, and Ralph.

William was a barber and had his own shop in Watervliet, Michigan

The following are pages from my dad's family history, starting with William's obituary:

William died 16 December 1945

On This Day in Family History - January 28

 Donnie Jeneal Burford was born 28 January 1949

Donnie is the daughter of Neil and Mildred Burford

Neil was a brother to my grandfather Lester Burford.

Photo: George, Lester, Neil Burford 1952

 

Photos: Donnie Jeneal Burford

Donnie married Hugh Dean Weatherford and they had two children:

I don't have a picture of Hugh Dean Weatherford.

On This Day in Family History - January 27

 Renue Thomas Wells died 27 January 1958, age 64

Renue was a sister of my grandfather Bill Thomas

Photo: Bill and Christie Thomas, Mel and Alta Thomas, Erwin and Renue Thomas Wells

Bill and Mel and Renue are siblings, children of Charles and Nancy Ford Thomas

Renue was born 16 June 1893

She married Erwin Leslie Wells 22 November 1920

They had one child, Melvin Thomas Wells, who was stillborn or died at birth

Erwin died 16 June 1957, Renue died 27 January 1958

On This Day in Family History - January 26

 I don't have pictures of any of the people who have birthdays or anniversaries on this date, so I'm going to do something different today. I'm going to post several pictures of my grandmother -- Christie Thomas -- and some of the ladies clubs that she belonged to. They would get together to play cards or Bunco once a month or so. Sometimes I went with her. A few of these faces look familiar, and I remember the names of a few of them -- but I can't match any of the names to the faces.

Grandma is second from right, back row.

Grandma is 4th from right.

Grandma is not in this picture. She was probably the one who took the picture.

Grandma is front right. Aunt Mabel is 2nd from left. 

Grandma is in the middle. The lady on the left is Ethel Kime. I'm not sure about the lady on the right.

On the back of this picture is written: Hertha Woodrum, Christie Thomas, Mrs Evans, Edith Davis, Hazel Kelso, Stella K, Mrs Haynes

Christie is in the center, at the left table, looking over the head of the lady in the light-colored hat. I have absolutely no idea what this meeting might have been -- with some of the ladies wearing some sort of uniform hats...

Somebody told me the man in this picture was a pastor, so maybe this was a church group? I don't remember Grandma ever going to church, but some (probably most) of her friends went to the Methodist or Christian churches in town. (Town being Bangor, Michigan)

On This Day in Family History - January 25

 Allan Washburn Miller was born 25 January 1921

Allan was the son of John Cleveland Miller and Giulielma Hoxie Miller

Allan's grandmother was Alice Ford, a sister to my great-grandmother Nancy Ford Thomas. Alice married Dale Miller, and that is the connection between the Ford and Miller branches of the family tree.

Allan's mother Giulie died shortly after Allan's birth. Allan was taken in and raised by relatives Harry and Effie Wieland. His two older brothers remained in the home.

Photo: Jerry, Allan, and Preston Miller

Effie and Harry Wieland, Allan Miller

Allan married a woman named Mary. I don't know her maiden name or anything else about her. I have a picture that says this on the back: "I don't think Mary ever dreamed her picture would travel to Japan". I know that Allan was in the Army Air Corps, but I don't know if he ever went to Japan. He was single when he enlisted. I've wondered, though, if it might be Allan's wife. 

There's a possibility it's Junior Till's wife, who was also named Mary.

Allan Washburn Miller died 25 June 2002

On This Day in Family History - January 24

 Margaret 'Peggy' Bullard was born 24 January 1852

Peggy's sister Emma Bullard Arnold was the mother of my great-great-grandfather John Henry Arnold.

 Emma had problems, and when John Henry was still a small child Peggy and her brother George Bullard took him in and raised him. 

Photo: George Bullard and Peggy Bullard (brother and sister)

I don't have a picture of their sister Emma

Here is what my great-grandmother Annie Arnold Hicks wrote about Aunt Peggy --

     Grandmother’s name before marriage was Emma Bullard. She married a man by the name of Arnold. They had one child, Henry (my father). They didn’t live together but three or four years. They had trouble because he wanted to move from Missouri to Texas (or at least that’s what set off the separation), with his folks and she wouldn’t move, but he went ahead and moved without her and in a little while he came back and wanted her to take him back but she wouldn’t. Then in a year or two she married a man by the name of Alex McReynolds. They had one boy and twin girls and they had trouble and he took the girls and left, and they never heard from him any more. 

     But about the time she married the second time, her brother and sister (neither one married) took my Dad - just a small boy about maybe 2 years old, and set up housekeeping and raised him. Their names were George Bullard and Margaret Bullard (Peggy). Uncle George and Aunt Peggy was always exactly like my Grandpa and Grandma. 

     After they got my Dad about raised, Uncle George married Josie Tamsett, an aunt of Amy Tamsett that John Carter married. Then a little later, Aunt Peggy married Alex Williams, a very strange character. Aunt Peggy said she never could get acquainted with him or understand his actions. Lots of nights he would get up in the night and sit in the door with his gun just like he was expecting a murderer, but in just a few years he was walking home across an old field where there was some dead trees and one of them fell on him and killed him. Just the day before that, he had a snuff box packed full of $20 gold pieces and that would be a lot of money for them times. He evidently had hid that money for not a penny could be found (about 1897). In those days gold pieces were in common circulation. They got the idea that he bored a hole in a tree and put the box of money in the hole and put a peg in on it, but they had no idea which tree nor for sure that he did that, so there wasn’t any chance to find the money. This all took place in Missouri around Thayer. 

     My Father was grown and married before Aunt Peggy married. 

Henry Arnold married Adaline Carter, and they had 5 children.

Photo: Front - Aunt Peggy, Adaline holding Etta, John, Henry holding Marlie. Back - George and Annie (my great-grandmother). 

This picture would have been taken in 1900 or 1901. Aunt Peggy married Alex Williams in 1988. I'm not sure when he died, but they had only been married a couple years. 

Peggy married Bryant Holley in November 1901. She died in 1912 at age 60. Bryant Holley died in 1922, age 81. As far as I know, Aunt Peggy never had any children of her own.

On This Day in Family History - January 23

 Sanford Stanton VanMeter was born 23 January 1887

I don't have a picture of him. I have a picture of his mother, Emma Adelia Parker VanMeter

Emma was a niece of my great-great grandfather, Moses Parker, Jr.

(So... a distant cousin to my grandmother, Christie Thomas.)

There is a sordid and grisly story about the murder of Emma Adelia Parker VanMeter, but we'll save that for another day. I don't have pictures of any of the other folks mentioned in the family history related to Sanford Stanton VanMeter. (I think he was called 'Stan' or 'Stant'.)

Here is what is written in the Treat Family History about Sanford Stanton VanMeter. (I'm not sure of the original source of this information.)

SANFORD STANTON VANMETER 

was born 23 Jan 1887 in Pike County, Ohio, and died 13 Sep 1962 in Pike County Ohio. He married Edna Mae Morehead 10 Aug 1911 in Pike County, Ohio, daughter of William Morehead and Lilly Henry. She was born 13 Mar 1890 in Beavers Ridge near Idaho, Pike County, Ohio, and died 13 Apr 1962 in Idaho, Pike County, Ohio.

Children of Sanford VanMeter and Edna Morehead are:

i. Ola Bernice VanMeter, b. 21 Mar 1912, Good Hope, Ohio; d. 05 Apr 1912, Good Hope, Ohio.

ii. Kenneth Melvin VanMeter, b. 22 Apr 1913, Pike County, Ohio; d. 12 Jul 1970, Wilmington, Ohio; m. (1) Mary Nellie Moorhead, 07 Nov 1940; m. (2) Flora Lillian Gray, 1964, Clinton County, Ohio.

iii. Stanley Norman VanMeter, b. 15 Jul 1915, Pike County, Ohio; d. 08 Oct 1978, Springfield, Ohio; m. (1) Edna Bennett, common law; m. (2) Joanne Neary Wright, 1965, Clark County, Ohio.

iv. Nellie Margaret VanMeter, b. 26 Oct 1917, Pike County, Ohio; d. 22 Mar 1919, Pike County Ohio.

v. Dallas Neil VanMeter, b. 31 Aug 1919, Pike County Ohio; d. 14 Feb 1990, Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio; m. Margery Ware, 07 Oct 1947, Kentucky.

vi. Rosa Lyndal VanMeter, b. 10 Nov 1921, Pike County, Ohio; d. 18 Oct 1923, Pike County Ohio.

vii. Donald Lester VanMeter, b. 27 Sep 1923, Beavers Ridge, Sunfish Twp., Pike County, Ohio; d. 07 Jun 1986, Waverly, Pike County, Ohio.

viii. Robert Douglas VanMeter, b. 15 Jul 1926, Pike County Ohio; d. 29 Jul 1974, Waverly, Pike County Ohio; m. Dorothy Williams, Sep 1947, Kentucky.

Sanford Stanton VanMeter was an orphan from the age of five years. He was tossed from family to family until he was old enough to work and earn his keep. Sanford Stanton VanMeter was the child who, after finding his mother and infant brother murdered outside of the VanMeter home, walked five miles to family/neighbors, the Cruzes, to get help. Sanford Stanton VanMeter never spoke of the incident except for once. He was extremely drunk at the time and said it was "like a bad dream."

Sanford Stanton VanMeter owned and operated a sawmill and a farm. It was said that Sanford Stanton VanMeter had quite a sense of humor and always woke up in a cheery mood.

After the death of Edna Mae "Dude" Morehead VanMeter, Sanford Stanton VanMeter grieved heavily and mourned for her.

Sanford Stanton VanMeter died of a massive heart attack. A nephew, Lee Morehead, and some of Lee's friends had asked permission to squirrel hunt. Permission was given. Later, Sanford Stanton VanMeter walked out to see how the hunting was going. He sat under a large, knotty maple tree and talked with the young men. As Sanford Stanton VanMeter got up to leave, he fell back down dead from a massive coronary. Lee Morehead's friends became frightened and left. Lee Morehead went to report the death of his uncle. As Lee Morehead had worked in a nursing home, he knew dead when he saw dead.

Edna Mae Morehead VanMeter was more commonly referred to as "Dude." She was a hard working woman, ever at Stant's side. Dude Morehead VanMeter loved babies and was always trying to make them smile. She was not the greatest of housekeepers but a good cook of plain fare. She had a warm sense of humor and was a loving person. She died of congestive heart failure. None of the daughters of this family lived to two years of age. Rosa VanMeter lived to be the oldest. She was proud of her first pair of shoes.

Kenneth VanMeter married a cousin, Mary Nellie Morehead. They never had any children. Mary Nellie Morehead VanMeter was a diabetic and died of complications. Kenneth VanMeter remarried. He died of congestive heart failure.

Stanley VanMeter and his first wife, Edna Bennett VanMeter, had no children. She died while Stanley was away trucking. Stanley VanMeter remarried to Joan Neary Wright VanMeter. Joan Neary Wright was divorced and had six children from her first marriage. They needed a father, and he needed a family. He loved the children as his own and helped raise them. Stanley VanMeter became diabetic. He was also a heavy smoker and did his share of spirits prior to his second marriage. Stanley VanMeter had lung cancer and was in the hospital for cancer treatments when he died of a massive coronary.

On This Day in Family History - January 22

 Otho Horace Ford married Maude Reiter 22 January 1924

Photo: Otho Horace Ford

I don't have a picture of Maude Reiter. Maude was Horace's third wife. He had four wives altogether: (1) Edith Abbie Stuller, (2) Laura Johnsen, (3) Maude Reiter, and (4) Anna Olsen. His first three marriages ended in divorce. His fourth wife is mentioned in his obituary, so I assume they were still married when he died. They had only been married about a year.

Photo: Edith Abbie Stuller

Horace and Edith had one child, a son -- Otho Simeon. As far as I know he didn't have any children with any of his other wives. Edith never had any more children, either. 

Here is what Horace's granddaughter (Della) wrote about his wives -- 

    This is getting to be a dilemma. I was glad to have the dates from Horace's draft card. It's possible he gave wrong information. He was quite a trick! I'm thankful to God that Charles and Effie brought Dad up... 

    I can straighten out the wife sequence. Edith was first. I think she was 16 when they married... Dad was small when harles and Effie took him in. I have pictures of him on the tricycle when he couldn't have been more than four. I always understood he was a very young child when he was left because his crying disturbed the neighbors. No more details on this.

    Laura was the second one. Dad remembers staying with them a short while when he was still quite young. He never talked like there were any other children. Laura liked children and was very good to him. He remembers her sewing a button on his coat. He said this ended abruptly and he was returned to his grandparents. No details.    

    Maude was the tired. She also was quite a trick. She didn't like any of us if you judge by her actions. They made one trip to Montana. I must have been in about the 7th grade.

    Anna was the fourth. I never met her. Horace met her in the Rest Home. Mom and Dad met her and liked her. I remember Mom getting Christmas boxes for her. I'm not sure if one of them died or that was a divorce. I remember Mom saying Horace was abusive of her. I shouldn't even say anything because I have nothing to back that up. 

[This was an email from Della to my mother when she was working on the family history. There's a story behind some of her comments: Otho Horace Ford married Edith Abbie Stuller 01 January 1908. According to the records I have, the marriage didn't take place until several months after their baby (Otho Simeon) was born. Edith was 17 years old.]

 

Della's notes:

    Otho Simeon was abandoned in a hotel room in Chicago when he was a baby. The story goes that Otho Horace and his wife Edith Stuller both just walked out of the hotel and left this baby in the room. A neighbor heard him crying and crying and finally went to the main desk to report it. Hotel management went into the room and found him abandoned. When they checked the records Effie and Charlie Ford, his grandparents, were listed as people to notify in case of emergency. They called them and they immediately went to pick him up. 

    Grandpa Charles adopted him legally so that Otho Horace couldn't claim him again. The baby (Otho Simeon) had been underfed and lacked milk to build calcium, so his legs were weak and bowed. Charlie bought a tricycle, which we understood they really couldn't afford, to help strengthen his legs. Otho Simeon continued to live with Charles and Effie until he was grown.

Photo: Charles Ford (left) and his wife Effie (right), Otho Simeon is standing between them. 

Back: Cleo Ford and Otho Horace Ford. 

Otho Simeon Ford married Fiina Herranen, and their daughter Della is the one who wrote the notes above.

On This Day in Family History - January 21

 Mary Gail Leatherwood was born 21 January 1949

She is the daughter of Vernell Hicks and Ray Leatherwood

Photo: Vernell Hicks and Ray Leatherwood

Photo: (L-R): Carl Ray, Velda, Vernell & Ray, Mary Gail

(This is how they look in my childhood memories - when Mary was still called "Mary Gail" and Carl was called "Carl Ray")

Mary married Walter Jensen and they had one child: Kristie Maurene

And guess what -- Kristie's birthday is also today!!!

Kristie was born 21 January 1974.

Mary is now married to Rod Schermer

(And they lived happily ever after.)