OBITUARIES

OBITUARIES

Lyla Lee Alexander

Lyla Lee (Derry) Alexander, a resident of Country Club Village in Hot Springs, Arkansas, died on Sunday, April 10, 2016, at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Lyla Lee was born the second of three daughters on September 30, 1921, in Princeton, Missouri to Francis and Hazel (Higgins) Derry. She and her older sister Ledonnia were graduated from Princeton High School in 1938. Lyla Lee relished relating the fact, time and again, that she started the first grade at age four and that she and LeDonnia never missed one day of school throughout their twelve years. At Princeton High School, Lyla Lee was crowned yearbook queen her freshman year and was elected president of the Class of 1938. On Dec. 24, 1939, the 20th wedding anniversary of her parents, Lyla Lee married Ross Alexander, Jr of Mercer, Missouri. During Ross’ military service in the South Pacific in World War II, Lyla Lee returned to Princeton to live with her parents on their farm northwest of Princeton.

It was during this time that the first of seven children, De Lyla, was born.

Following Ross’ return from the war, they settled in Spickard, Missouri where Lyla Lee worked both as a housewife and a teller at the Peoples’ State Bank. In 1960, Ross and Lyla Lee moved their six children to Houston, Texas where their seventh child, Dempsey, was born. In 1962, the family moved to Arkansas living in both Mountain Home and Harrison before moving to West Memphis in 1966. There, Lyla Lee spent the next 48 years, raising her children and working at the Bank of West Memphis. She also was a member and officer in theWest Memphis Chapter of Altrusa International and a member of Rosewood United Methodist Church, where she was an alto in the choir for several years.

In her retirement, Lyla Lee served as treasurer of the Crittenden County AARP, frequented senior citizen dances in Memphis, worked the polls, and attended exercise classes at the First Baptist Church. She enjoyed yard work and was quite proud of her well-manicured lawn on Arlington Drive for over three decades. She was a devoted NFL fan and if the Manning ‘boys’ were playing, she was watching. On the NBA front, the Memphis Grizzlies was her team, even watching the Grizzlies play the Golden State Warriors (‘Curry’s team’) on the last day of her life. She was an avid fan of Dancing with the Stars, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. On Sunday mornings, Joel Osteen was the main attraction.

Her husband, Ross, predeceased Lyla Lee in January, 1972, as well as her longtime and loving companion, Wayne in 2010. She is survived by her daughters, De Lyla Alexander Spaid of Dallas, Texas, and Dana Alexander of Arlington, Tennessee; sons, Doug and his wife Chris of Atlanta, Georgia, Dwight and his wife Simone of Fairhope, Alabama, Drew and his wife Twylla of Jersey City, New Jersey, Dulles and his wife Margo of Austin, Texas and Dempsey and his partner Todd Snow of Hot Springs Village. She was the proud grandmother of twelve, USMC Lt. Col Wes Spaid, Jeff and Steve Alexander, Erica Martini, Andrew and Tip Alexander, Reverend Jason Alexander, Elizabeth Alexander, and Katherine Lewis, Brooke Choate and Ben Alexander and Abraham Alexander. She is also survived by fifteen adoring great-grandchildren.

A service celebrating Lyla Lee’s life will be scheduled in the coming weeks. Thanks goes to the staff of Country Club Village for filling the final two years of Lyla Lee’s life with community and caring. Great appreciation goes to the dedicated teams at Hot Springs National Park Hospital and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center, to which she has donated her body for research.

Family and friends will long remember this matriarch as a true steel magnolia whose strength, determination and love of family served as a lifelong inspiration for all.

Her common refrain, “It always works out for the best,” provides much comfort following her passing.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you tend your gardens, hug your children and grandchildren, play Scrabble and dominoes and/or ‘cut a rug’ in her loving memory. Contributions in her memory could also be made to Our House, Hope for the Working Homeless, P.O. Box 34155 Little Rock, AR 72203 or the Derry Award at Princeton High School,1008 E. Coleman St., Princeton, MO 64673. Condolences to the family may be sent in care of Dempsey at 1 Onda Lane, Hot Springs Village, AR 71909.

Terry Lee Hull

Terry Lee Hull, 58, of Riverside, Missouri, formerly of West Memphis passed away Sunday, April 3, 2016, in Riverside, Missouri.

Funeral services Saturday at 11 a.m. at Beautiful Zion Missionary Baptist Church with burial in Paradise Garden Cemetery. Wolfe Brothers Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

He leaves five daughters; three sons; his father, Claude Hull Sr.; his mother, Daisy Hull of West Memphis; two sisters; two brothers; 21 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.