Eugene (Gene) L. Felton

Eugene L. (Gene) Felton, 91, of Bella Vista, Ark., died March 22, 2024. He was born to Mildred and Oren Felton November 16, 1932, in Plankinton, S.D. He and his parents lived in several South Dakota towns before moving to Bismarck, N.D., in 1947. The family moved to the Twin Cities area in Minnesota in 1951 where, except for two years in the Army, Gene lived until 1988, when he and his wife moved to Bella Vista. Gene received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and for most of his life was associated with writing and communications in some way. He worked for Northern States Power Company, an electric and gas utility headquartered in Minneapolis, for 30 years. One of his positions in the company was director of corporate communications. Gene was active in Boy Scouting as a boy and for much of his adult life. While in college he guided Scout canoe trips in northern Minnesota and Canada for three years. He served as a Scoutmaster and for more than 20 years was on the committee for the Northern Tier High Adventure bases of the Boy Scouts of America. He was chairman of the committee for eight years. Gene also was on the board of the Loring-Nicollet Bethlehem community centers in Minneapolis and served as its President for several years. In Bella Vista, he was an elder and a deacon in the Presbyterian church, sang in church choirs and the Men's Chorus, and was the editor of the Bella Vista Property Association's Village Voice for about three years. He was an active tennis player and was president of the Bella Vista Tennis Association for two years. Gene made two trips from North Dakota to the Custer Battlefield on the Little Bighorn River in Montana to gather photographs and material for a book on the Custer expedition. It was never published, but he donated his manuscript and hundreds of color transparencies and black and white negatives to the Custer Battlefield Museum. Gene and his first wife, Patricia, had six sons. After her death in 1965, he remarried, to Shirley R. Braum, gaining three more sons. All nine were then under the age of eight. After her death in 1999, he remarried to Shirley A. Burchett. She died March 31, 2021. Survivors include sons, Joel, Bella Vista, Ark., Eric, Bella Vista, Ark., Charles, Overland Park, Kan.; Douglas, Rockport, Maine; sons and their partners, Christopher J. and Jeanette, Pontiac, Mich.; Christopher W. and Mary, Menomonee Falls, Wis.; Daniel and David James, Laurel, Md.; Brian and Gretchen, Golden Valley, Minn.; David and Abby Seymour, Scarborough, Maine; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Friday, March 29, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Presbyterian Church, 1880 Forest Hills Blvd., Bella Vista, Ark. 72715. Arrangements are made by the Bella Vista Funeral Home and Crematory where online condolences may be made at www.funeralmation.com.