Gartie Coburn

Gartie Vandiver Coburn, 91, of Humnoke died peacefully in her sleep on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. She was born to Jane England and John Vandiver on Jan. 13, 1921, and raised in the hills of northern Georgia, near the town of Helen. She was the middle child of eight brothers and sisters who all preceded her in death. She met Curtis Leroy Coburn Sr. of Arkansas while both were attending Martha Berry High School in Rome, Ga., and they married on Dec. 26, 1941, shortly after he joined the U.S. Navy. They celebrated almost 60 years of marriage until his passing on Nov. 18, 2001. Though Gartie loved her native Georgia, she likewise came to love her adopted home state of Arkansas, working especially hard alongside her husband to acquire and maintain farmland near Humnoke while raising their only son, Curt Jr. She also worked many years as a supervisor at the Stuttgart Shoe Factory until its closing led to her early retirement. All who knew Gartie will remember her as a giver, someone who valued her family above all else and who consistently put the needs of others first. Her home-style cooking will be greatly missed, but not as much as her beautiful smile and kind heart. She leaves a void in our lives that is impossible to fill. Survivors include her son, Curtis Leroy Coburn Jr., and his wife, Sandy, of Little Rock; one granddaughter, Keli Coburn Jacobi, and her husband, Jake, of El Dorado; and two grandsons, Casi Patrick Coburn, and Wade Cooper Meeks, and his wife, Pam, all of Little Rock. There are four great-grandchildren, Caleb and Benjamin Jacobi, and Sarah and Katherine Meeks, as well as brother-in-law, Marion Coburn of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and sister-in-law, Katherine Coburn Brown of Conway. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, at Roller-England Funeral Home (501) 842-3939, 202 Stuttgart Hwy., in England. A private family graveside service will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 16, at Flynn Cemetery in Humnoke. Her memory may be honored with flowers, or with memorials to Arkansas Hospice, 5600 W. 12th St., Little Rock, Ark., 72204. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. Online guestbook: www.rollerfuneralhomes.com.