Obituaries

Doretta Malone

Photo of Doretta Malone
Doretta Malone an avid sports fan skipped the Super Bowl on Feb 4, 2018 to dance in heaven with the love of her life Jim Malone. Doretta departed this earthly world at 6:57am Sunday morning to see a host of family and friends that had gone on the journey to eternal life with her loving God and Savoir. Doretta was born unto Luchin Howard "Pete" and Ruby McDaniel Williams on July 27, 1930 in Rogers, Ark. After growing up in Northwest Arkansas she decided to be the master of her own destiny and moved to Little Rock to attend Arkansas Baptist School of Nursing. She was in the Thirty First class graduating June 1st 1952 as an RN. During this time in school she met a young man and fell madly in love with him. With her by his side Jim Malone was already in heaven on earth. Together along with Jim's father they started a fee fishing lake and began buying the swampy ground around it. Progress begets change, and as the fishing lake began to fail due to an overgrowth of aquatic vegetation the surrounding acres were put into fish production ponds. To fuel the family needs Doretta moved up in the nursing world to become Director of Nursing at Cabot Manor Nursing Home. She later received her Nursing home administers license and became the Administrator there as well. With the family fish farm growing Doretta saw a need for her involvement on a daily basis and retired from nursing in 1974. Under her direction the fish farm underwent modernization by creating standards the farm and industry still use today. Those include building a fish analyzation lab that is the standard for testing triploidy in fish and was instrumental in creating the testing protocols used by USFW today when testing the sterility in grass carp. She managed the sales, inflow and care of fish for market and oversaw all office operations until her retirement at the age of 70. Doretta was a loving and involved mother to her daughter, Beverly and son Jim. She participated in all aspects of their lives. She was talented in every way! Doretta was a seasoned camper, wedding dress maker, homecoming float decorator, nativity scene builder, painter and part time carpenter. She was an excellent cook as well. She mastered the art of wild game preparation to accommodate the results of many hunts made by her son, son-in-law, grandchildren and many friends. Her grandchildren were a constant source of pleasure. She so enjoyed their journey from birth to adulthood and participated every chance she could. For them she was every kid's dream. To get to go to Grandmo's house meant access to the whole farm, fried egg sandwiches, cheese toast, lunches, dinners, hunting and swimming! Doretta's life evolved and revolved around family. The love of her husband and her love for him is the stuff legends are made of. Even a movie could not portray the depth of her devotion to him. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" will never have to be apart again!! She is survived by her daughter, Beverly Jones (Bobby), grandchildren, Jade Jones, Casey Jones (Courtney) and her son, Jim B. Malone (Louise), grandchildren, Lauren Thomson (Rob), Raychel Pendergist (Amon) and a soon to be born, highly anticipated great-grandson! The family wants to extend their appreciation to Rita Matlock. Her kindness and devotion allowed our parents to extend their life at home and have a quality of life after home care was not possible. She was our mother's partner in crime, friend and confidant. Something every elderly person needs. We are forever grateful for the care she gave to our parents and family. There will be a private family service. Memorials can be made to Hospice Home Care of Little Rock, England First Baptist Church Youth Fund, Lonoke County Casa and prayers can go directly to God for those in need.

Published February 8, 2018

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