Nell Stannard

She was their second child and only daughter. Descended on both sides from Arkansas pioneer families of both Yell and Polk Counties, she was a 1940 graduate of Ola High School. She attended Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) at Conway for three years, then transferred to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa where she graduated in 1944 with a degree in home economics. She continued on and received a master’s degree in Textiles from the University of Alabama. She taught at Pike Road, Alabama, for a few years. In the early 1950’s she moved to southern California where she taught home economics at Redondo Beach High School until her retirement in 1986. She married Harold Stannard, also a high school teacher, in 1962.

After retirement, Nell and Harold split their time between a 100-year-old home they bought in Woodland, Michigan, and a home in Palm Desert, California. After Harold became sick, they sold their Michigan home and stayed in Palm Desert, where their daughter, Carolyn, and her husband, Robert, lived.

When Harold died in 2005, Nell began to visit her brother, James Everett (Jim) Matthews and his family in Little Rock. Her summer visits became longer and longer, especially because of Jim’s great grandson, Daniel, with whom Nell had formed a special bond.

After Jim’s death, she moved to Little Rock permanently and lived together with his daughter, her niece, Mary Celia, who was also a widow. Soon after her move, Nell joined Trinity Presbyterian Church where she attended services until she was no longer able to.

She is predeceased by her parents, husband, and brother. She is survived by her daughter, Carolyn Wilkerson, and Marilyn Forant, who is like a daughter; granddaughter, Andrea Anderson, all from Palm Desert, California; great grandchildren, Desiree Patton of San Diego, California, and William Anderson of Maryland; her niece, Mary Celia “Sissy” Johnson; great nephew and niece, Matt Johnson and Jaime Combs (Curtis), and her grand nephew, Daniel Johnson, all of Little Rock; her nephew, Jim Matthews Jr. (Janet), of Little Rock; her great niece, Rhiannon Roberson (Brent), and her grand nephew and niece, Parker and Mavis Roberson, all of Kentucky.

Memorial services will be 2:00 p.m., Thursday, October 17, 2024 at Griffin-Leggett Healey & Roth Funeral Home. Burial will be at a later date, at Riverside National Veterans Cemetery in Riverside, California.

Donations in her memory may be made to Trinity Presbyterian Church, 4501 Rahling Rd, Little Rock, AR 72223.