Carra McKenzie Franks

Carra McKenzie Franks, 91, of Little Rock, died Nov. 11, 2013. The youngest of seven children, she was born May 12, 1922, in Centerville, Ark., to the late Walter and Myrtle McKenzie. She graduated from Ola High School in Yell County and attended State Teachers College in Conway. She met Thomas C. Franks, her husband of 69 years, at college in Conway. They married while he was on leave from World War II duty in Alaska in January 1944 and later worked together at the Pine Bluff Arsenal where she was a clerk typist. Carra also worked for credit bureaus and other businesses in Little Rock before the war. She was a full-time mother to her three sons, served as a den mother for cub scouts and was involved with the PTA, in addition to keeping her home and yard looking beautiful. In later years, she traveled throughout the United States and in Europe and liked to walk, continuing to climb Pinnacle Mountain well into her 60's. A member of Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, she watched the televised Sunday service when she was no longer able to attend in person. She appreciated her caregivers in the last years of her life. Carra was preceded in death by her husband, her brother, and her five sisters. She is survived by her sons Ted (Alison) of Murphys, Calif., Mac of Jonesboro, and Bill (Kate) of Little Rock; grandchildren, Amanda (Bradley) Weathers of Jonesboro, and Casey (Heather) Franks and Thomas and Libby Franks, all of Little Rock; and great-grandchildren, Colby Wood and Laney Weathers of Jonesboro, along with many nieces, nephews and their children. Carra and Thomas Franks devoted their lives to raising and providing for their three sons and will be remembered for their examples of hard work and responsibility. Services will be held at 3 p.m., Saturday Nov. 16, 2013 at Little Rock Funeral Home, 8801 Knoedl Court (NW corner I-630 and Barrow Rd.). Memorials may be made to The Presbyterian Village Foundation, 510 N. Brookside Dr., Little Rock, Ark. 72205. Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, (501) 224-2200. Carra's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.