Obituaries

For 144 years, we have paused on the last Monday of May to remember and honor those Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. On May 5, 1868, the Grant Army of the Republic established Memorial Decoration Day as the national day to decorate the graves of the Civil War soldiers with flowers. General and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant presided over the first observance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery where over 20,000 Union dead and several hundred Confederate dead had been laid to rest.

Aislynn Nicole Calloway passed from this life on Sunday, May 19, 2013. She was born May 16, 2013, at Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria. Graveside services were held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 21, in the Urania Cemetery in Urania. Survivors include her father, Dewayne Calloway, and her mother, Candace Banes, both of Olla; her brother, Rylandon Roberts of Columbia; maternal grandparents, George and Candy Banes of Olla; paternal grandmother, Odessa Calloway of Columbia; and her aunt, Heather Banes of Olla.

Edward Paul “Blue John” Chevallier, 84, of Harrison, Arkansas, passed from this life on Saturday, May 18, 2013. A gathering of Blue John’s many friends will take place on Saturday, June 8th, at 6 p.m. on the side of the creek at Beverly’s farm. If you need directions please contact a family member. Arrangements are being handled by Coffman Funeral Home of Harrison, AR. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife and mother of his children, Carole Chevallier; his second wife, Racean (William) Chevallier; and two brothers, Bill Chevallier and Louis Chevallier. Survivors include two sons, Bo Chevallier and wife Kay, and John Chevallier and wife Jan; two daughters, Lynn Blevins and husband Reggie, and Beverly Chevallier and husband Terry Matlock; sister, Earnestine Parsons; ten grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Tonda Ann McLendon, 66, of Jena, passed from this life on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria. She was born March 22, 1947 in Wisner to the union of her parents, Richard and Irene Elizabeth Tisdale Jones. Tonda was a homemaker. Services were held at 2 p.m., Monday, May 20, in the chapel of Hixson Brothers Funeral Home of Jena with the Revs. Jimmy Keene and Tommy Nelson officiating. Interment followed in the Randall Cemetery of Aimwell under direction of Hixson Brothers, Inc. of Jena. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Sue Thornburg; and brother, William Howell. Survivors include her husband, Lowell McLendon of Jena; two sons, Rodney McLendon and Michael McLendon, both of Jena; two brothers, Bobby Jones of Ozark, MO and Richard Jones, Jr. of Oklahoma City, OK; and six grandchildren. Pallbearers were Steve Andrews, Mike Crooks, John Borderlon, Tony Ganey, Gary Don Moseley and H. O. Berry.

Jimmie B. Nation, 94, passed from this life on Thursday, May 16, 2013, at Autumn Leaves Nursing Home in Winnfield. Services were held at 10 a.m., Sunday, May 19, at Pine Grove Apostolic Church of Kelly with Rev. Johnny Barnhill officiating. Interment followed in the Little Star Cemetery near Kelly under direction of Magnolia Funeral Home of Alexandria. She was preceded in death by her husband, Willard Abe Nation; one son, George “Buddy” Nation; and several brothers and sisters. Survivors include three sons, Bill Nation and wife Sue of Jena, Donnie Nation and wife Thelma of Holum, and Travis Nation of Urania; nine grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren. Pallbearers were Randele Nation, Tyrel Hinton, Logan Hinton, Jessie Parker, Devin Hines, and Taylor Wyant. Honorary pallbearers were Kenneth Ferguson and Kenneth Nation.