Cecilia Jennings

Cecilia Jennings, affectionately known as Nell, passed away Monday, September 19, 2022. She was born February 24, 1942, in Fayetteville, Ark., to Andrew and Lucille McDonald. She was Arkansas through and through, tracing her family roots back to Abner Gregory McDonald, who moved to Arkansas in 1887. She was a tough old bird, fighting her illness to the bitter end, but also one of the kindest ladies that you would ever meet. She came from meager beginnings, but found herself the first McDonald to graduate from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Interior Design, getting her name etched in stone for the first time. She would later travel on three occasions to China, where she would study massage therapy and walk the Great Wall of China. Her home was in Rogers, where she owned a modest farm with a beautiful three-story Victorian style house, complete with creaky floor boards, a grand piano, white stone columns, and surrounded by beautiful trees; a huge Willow in the corner, a Magnolia in the back, and the Apple tree in the front, which she often turned into apple pies and the like. On her property you would often find her cleaning fence, running cattle, bucking hay, breaking ice water in the winter, but also sipping sweet tea on her front porch reading, hosting the most amazing Christmases, or wrangling her two grandchildren to get ready for Sunday Church. She was a lady of class and elegance, a style all of her own, one day in Razorback gear and the next dressed to the nines in heels. She loved deeply and was loved by many and will be sorely missed. Her legacy will live on in those that she loved and her name will be etched in stone a second time. She was preceded in death by her parents; her son, Billy Lance Lawrence; her sister, Sue Cate; and her brother, Billy McDonald. She is survived by her sister, Sharon Lynn McDonald of Fayetteville; four brothers, Donnie McDonald, Zara McDonald, Mark McDonald, and Thomas McDonald; and two grandchildren, Andrelea Lawrence of Rogers, Arkansas, and Lee Lawrence of Rogers, Arkansas. Visitation will be 10 to 11 a.m., Saturday, September 24, 2022, at Moore's Chapel with a memorial service to follow beginning at 11 a.m. To place an online tribute, please visit: www.bernafuneralhomes.com