Mrs. Anita Gentry

Mrs. Anita Jean Gentry passed peacefully from this world on Thursday, May 30. Anita was born in De Queen, AR, March 23, 1937. For our family and the friends who knew our Mother, Anita Gentry, this obituary is much too short to capture the many special things she did for those she loved and loved her. For those who did not know her, the De Queen newspaper does not have enough pages to capture this life well lived.

She and her husband Albert raised chickens for Pilgrim's Pride for many years. She worked at the De Queen Hospital in the dietary department preparing meals for those in the hospital and received the October 2008 Employee of the Month. Her love of children was a major part of her retirement years as she helped with the Young Expression afterschool program. She was a member of the Sevier County Home Extension Club and spent many hours with them sewing and quilting. Anita was a member of the Friendship Baptist Church in De Queen. Once fully retired, she and Albert enjoyed fishing on the De Queen Lake.

She was the beloved mother of daughter Dr. Teresa and son-in-law Dr. Douglas Franklin of Rogers, AR, daughter Dr. Claudia Gentry-Weeks and son-in-law David Weeks of Fort Collins, CO, son Allan and daughter-in-law Denise Gentry of De Queen AR, and son Douglas Gentry of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Anita was the proud grandmother of 8 grandchildren and their spouses: Matthew and Whitney Franklin, Nathan, Desiree and Dayton Weeks, Amy (Gentry) and Josh Tadlock, Bradley Gentry and wife Haley, Briony (Gentry) and Chad Jenkins, and Jessi Gentry. She had 4 step grandchildren, Jamie Blankenship, Joni Blankenship Deen, Roy Blankenship and wife Rikki, and Rob Blankenship.

She was also the great-grandmother of 25 great-grandchildren, Emilia and Ellis Franklin, Dakota and Lexie Gentry, Kylie, Jacie, Landrie, Maggie Joe, and Charliekate Tadlock, and Dax and Jax Jenkins, and step-great-grandchildren, Aaliyah, Lyssia, Sephriam, Dagon, Jacob, Parker, and Rychein, Blankenship, Rylie, Khalil, and Kai Blankenship Deen, Ryan, Misty, Analise, and Blue Blankenship.

She is proceeded in her death by her loving husband of 63 years, Albert C. Gentry and parents, Ruth and Jessie Johnson and her sister Charlotte. She is survived by sisters, Carla Currence of Monticello, AR, Margie Christie of Nashville, AR, Phyllis Gaddis of Cincinnati, OH, Wayne Johnson of Houston, TX, and Neal Johnson of De Queen, AR.

Graveside funeral services for Anita Jean Gentry will be on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at 10:00 am at Redman Cemetery in De Queen, AR. Visitation will be from 6 pm to 8 pm on Monday, June 3 at Chandler Funeral Home in De Queen. You may send an online sympathy message at www.chandlerfuneral.com.