Obituaries

Charlotte Ragon Cone

Photo of Charlotte Ragon Cone
Charlotte Ragon Cone, longtime resident of Little Rock, died on April 11th. She was born on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1911 and passed away 6 days short of her 102nd birthday. She was preceded in death by her by husband, Edward "Bunny" Cone and grandson, Michael Cone. She is survived by three sons, Ed Cone (Barbara) of New York City, David Cone (Donna), and Richard Cone (Ivone) of Little Rock, as well as by grandchildren, Louis Cone, Michael Anne Hoffert Cone, David and Kirsten Cone, Christopher Cone, Elizabeth Cone and Billy Boatman, Mary Workman and Jolyn and Joe McClure, and seven great-grandchildren. Charlotte was a charter member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock and served for over 30 years on the altar guild. She was also a member of the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) whch was formed in the fall of 1958 during the Little Rock desegregation crisis. Charlotte was a wonderful cook and served many a great dinner on Sunday evenings to family and friends. She had a passion for life and loved entertaining, usually with a glass of French Champagne (is there any other kind?). She was a lover of animals, and every morning you could find her in her back yard feeding "her" birds. It was not unusual to hear her talking to the birds as she passed out generous amounts of bread laden with peanut butter—she would never think of giving them bread without it! Anyone who drove past her home on Evergreen would be greeted with an emmaculately kept lawn (thanks Ron Cox) and beautiful red geraniums on the front porch. During the winter those same geraniums would be covered with sheets to protect them from freezing. Some of them were over 15 years old! The last several years of Charlotte's life were spent at Presbyterian Village. At age 99 she entered her first statewide beauty pagaent as Ms Presbyterian Village, finishing as 3nd runner up! She made many friends and commented more than once that she was "helping Marta Harrel with the older people" with their exercise regimens. Up until the final few weeks of her life she religiously went to UAMS and "worked out" as she described it (although we all knew that some of the work was social!). Many people contributed to making her life more comfortable. Special thanks to Dawn Yakoubian, Marsha Watkins, Pastor Ray Brown,Wanda Wyse and all the nurses (angels, really) at Presbyterian Village. Deb Reynolds, her helper who drove her to and from UAMS and helped her negotiate the machines, the staff at UAMS that helped her with her workouts, Janie Derden, who always kept Charlotte in the latest fashions, and her cousin Karen Privlosky,who drove her on Thursday's to her hairdresser Cliff Keene, who every Thursday regardless of the weather, worked miracles on what she called her "impossible" hair. There will be a celebration of her life on Monday, April 15th, at St Mark's Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. with reception following. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Pulaski County Humane Society. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.

Published April 13, 2013

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