John Elton Burkett

JOHN ELTON BURKETT went into the presence of the Lord November 23, after living 95 full years from his birth in Greenbrier in 1926. John attended school in Greenbrier and later attended college at Arkansas State Teachers College, graduating with a degree in business. John was a teacher and later principal of Arkansas School for the Blind before he entered the business world. He began selling building material products, and spent 30 years with Celotox, where he was named a National Salesman of the Year. John was preceded in death by his parents, James Clarence and Ethel Mae Burkett; as well as his first wife, Mary Zell Butler Burkett; his brothers, Jerry Jackson Burkett, Vance Weldon Burkett, and his step-daughter, Patricia DuBose. Survivors include his wife, Charlene Carman Burkett, whom he married in June of 2020; his brother, James Cartel Burkett; his sister, Jimmie Lee Burkett Burnett; step-granddaughters, Mandy DuBose and Angela Hudson; and her children, along with several nieces and nephews. His special life-long friends are Carroll Strickland, Tommy Howard, and Fred and Cathy Michael. John loved woodworking and built everything from birdhouses to his lake houses at Heber Springs and Hot Springs. His last 1 1/2 years with Charlene were spent devoting themselves to each other and making the friends at Chenal Pines Luxury Resort Retirement Center, their extended family. The family wants to thank his medical teams at Arkansas Heart Hospital (and Clinic), his buddies at Ridgemere Retirement Center in Conway, his morning breakfast coffee crew at Chenal Pines, Hospice Comfort Care, and especially the numerous prayer warriors across the South who supplied John and Charlene with insurmountable prayer, love, and strength during John's health issues. A visitation will be at 10:30, Tuesday, November 30, at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, 13801 Chenal Parkway, followed by the service at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Greenbrier at Thorn Cemetery at 2 p.m. John was a long time member of First Baptist Church in Little Rock and the Bob Pilcher Friendship Sunday School class. He asked that memorials be made to First Baptist Church, 62 Pleasant Valley Drive, LR, 72212, or a favorite charity.