Funeral services for Wendell Lavern Francis, 80, of Springdale,
Arkansas were held Saturday, February 15, 2003 at Sisco Funeral
Chapel in Springdale with Reverend Larry Branum officiating.
He graduated from Lake Valley High School. He attended Southwestern
Teachers College in Weatherford, Oklahoma until being drafted to
military service into WWII. Wendell returned to Mountain View,
Oklahoma and married Lila Faye Smith. They purchased a farm near
town where they had a son in 1948. They lived there until 1950,
when they moved to Springdale, Arkansas.
Wendell's first job was cooking at A.Q. Chicken House. He worked there
for a year, and went to work at Emerson Monument Company. He left
there to open monument companies in Snyder, Oklahoma and then in
Fayetteville, Arkansas. He operated these for five years. At that time
he went to work for Tyson Foods and Randall Road Hatchery. He was
manager at the hatchery until health reasons caused an early retirement.
His fellow employees at Tyson were his best friends. He retired in 1975
to live in Springdale.
Survivors include a son, John B. Francis of Springdale; cousins, Rita
and Kenneth Cornett of Huntsville, Arkansas, Saundra Cain of Kingston,
Arkansas, Kent Cornett of Huntsville, Arkansas; an aunt, Leo Green of
Cordell; a sister-in-law, Ima Lee Francis of Mt. View, Oklahoma; a
niece, Kay Daniel of Mt. View, Oklahoma; cousins, Ray and Jerri Johnson
of Oakwood, Oklahoma; Joanne Nye of Oakwood, Oklahoma, Bob and Gary
Johnson of Stillwater, Oklahoma, Jim Johnson of Enid, Oklahoma; a dear
friend, Junior Buchanan of Springdale; cousins Shan Fitzgerald of
Cordell, Oklahoma and Denny Green of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.
