Anna Lee Pharis

Anna Lee Allred Pharis was born on January 21, 1922, near Dry Fork, Arkansas to Dice and Elsie Allred and passed away on March 31, 2015. She attended primary school at a one-room school near Dry Fork and later attended Berryville High School where she graduated in 1941. She married Herbert Lee Pharis on July 14, 1943 in Berryville, Arkansas. They first lived in Ardmore, Oklahoma where Herbert served in the Army Air Corps until he was sent overseas to fight with the 11th Armored Division in the fall of 1944. Anna then moved to Kansas City, Missouri working in a defense plant as a "Rosie the Riveter" while Herb served overseas. After the war, they both returned to Berryville where they raised two children, Peggy and Brett. Anna worked for a time at the Rural Electric Cooperative in the early 1950s before she started work in the office at the Tyson Foods Plant, known then as Ocoma Foods, in Berryville. She remained at Tyson Foods, until she retired in the mid 1980s. Anna was an avid reader and a dedicated gardener most of her life canning and freezing vegetables all summer long for her family to eat the next winter. After retirement, she enjoyed pursuing her interest in music, singing with a local choral group in Shell Knob, Mo and in the choir at the Berryville United Methodist Church. She also enjoyed traveling across the United States with Herb on numerous bus tours as long as their health permitted. Anna was a long time, faithful member of the Berryville United Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dice and Elsie Allred, siblings Imogene Yingst, Wilma Jay Wilson, Eudene Allred and her husband of 68 years, Herbert Pharis. She is survived by her sister, Doris Sue Gunter, daughter and son-in-law, Peggy and Kenny Clark of Cabot, Ark., son and daughter-in-law, Brett and Gina Pharis of Little Rock, Ark., two grandsons, Kris and Jeff Clark and four great-grandchildren. Date and location of the memorial service will be announced at a future date. Online condolences may be sent to the family at nelsonfuneral.com. © Nelson Funeral Service, Inc. 2015.