Laura Jean (“Jeannie”) Sellars, 92, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 5, 2018. Born Jan. 21, 1925 in New Blaine, Ark., Jeannie was the youngest child of a large family, and loved and adored by her parents and siblings. She was only five when her father died during the heart of the Great Depression. Her mother moved the family to farmland in Moffett, Okla. With hard work and love, Jeannie’s mother, sister and brothers kept the family afloat and made sure she received an education. As she later wrote, “it would be impossible to relate all the strange, pathetic, sad and funny things that occurred during this rise to a better life, but rise it did however slowly.”

After graduating from Fort Smith High School, Jeannie went to work for Life and Casualty Insurance at a time when few women were in the workforce. In the 1970s, she declined a promotion because it required a move to Nashville, and she refused to leave her ailing mother. Jeannie retired after 43 years of service and took on a second career, working for her brother Lowell’s business, Central Mall’s Fashions ‘n Accessories until it closed. Jeannie was a writer, bridge player and bowler. She preferred coffee instead of water for her daily intake of fluids; enjoyed watching sports and talking politics; and was an animal-lover.
Jeannie was preceded in death by her parents, James Oliver and Pollyanna Sellars; sister Modene Pratt; brothers Leon, Lowell, Wayne and J.O. Sellars; half-sisters Clyde Thomson and Rena Birkhead; half-brothers Kenneth and Emmett Sellars; and several nieces and nephews. She is survived by nieces Diane Sellars Nolte, Karen Sellars Thompson, Elizabeth Sellars Mann, Rebecca Sellars and Betty Jean Johnston; nephews Bob Pratt and John Sellars; and numerous great, great-great and great-great-great nieces and nephews.

Honorary pallbearers will be her nephews Jay Sellars Nolte, Kyle Nolte, Zach Shipley, Colby Roberson, Noah Hinkle, Kaelin Pratt, Jake Frederick, Dave Baublitz and Skipper Shipley.

The Sellars family invites all who wish to pay respects to their dear Aunt Jeannie to a visitation at Ocker Funeral Home in Van Buren Wednesday, Jan. 10, from 5-7 p.m A graveside service will be at Forrest Park Cemetery Thursday, Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Sebastian County Humane Society.

Her touch is forever.

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