Eunice Garner

Eunice P. Garner, the daughter of the late John Preston and Myrtle Agnes Harlan Edwards, was born in Gray Ridge, Missouri on March 5, 1915, and passed away at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri on October 29, 2009, at the age of 94 years, 7 months and 24 days. Mrs. Garner had lived in Gray Ridge and Bloomfield, Missouri most of her life. She and her husband had owned and operated a Blacksmith Shop and a Cafe in Gray Ridge for many years. After retirement She and her husband worked on a river barge as cooks and helpers. After the death of her husband she worked in the machine shop that was owned by her son, daughter and son-in-law where she operated the punch press, welder and other machine shop machines. She enjoyed quilting and listening to gospel music. She was a member of the Gray Ridge General Baptist Church. On August 1, 1934, she was married to Hanford Theo Garner. He preceded her in death on January 16, 1987. Surviving are one son, Bethel Garner of Bloomfield, Missouri; two daughters, Joyce Wilson of Ashland City, Tennessee, Yvonne Odom of Malden, Missouri, ten grandchildren; nineteen great grandchildren, seventeen great great grandchildren; three sisters, Mary Louese Murphy of San Antonio, Texas, Violet Myrtle Jones of Greenwood, Indiana and Beulah May Lape of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Other relatives and friends also survive. She was preceded in death by one son, Noble Leon Garner in 1998; one sister, Lois Marie Johnson; and three brothers, Paul R. Edwards, Estus Isaac Somers and Russell Wheeler Somers, one great-grandchild and one great great grandchild. Friends may call on Saturday, October 31, 2009, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at the Watkins & Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, Missouri. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 2:00 PM in the Watkins & Sons Chapel in Dexter, Missouri with the Rev. Jonathan Rice of Malden, Missouri officiating. Interment will be in the Chalk Bluff Cemetery near Dexter, Missouri with Watkins & Sons Funeral Service of Dexter, Missouri in charge of arrangements.