Elma Jean Coffelt

Elma Jean Smalley Coffelt went to be with the Lord peacefully on March 4, 2012, at age 95. Jean was born April 16, 1916, in Saxonburg, Pa., to the late Rev. Matthew John and Anna M. Smalley. Jean has lived in the Gravette and Centerton area since 1936. She married John Whitten on May 8, 1937, and they had five children together. In 1952, the Whitten family moved to Douglas, Kan., where John worked for Boeing in Wichita. In 1960, the family moved back home to Gravette, Ark., where they resided until his death in 1967. Jean worked at the Gravette hospital for 16 years. Jean married the Rev. Melvin Coffelt in 1971 and they made their home in Centerton. Melvin passed away in 1998. Jean remained in their home in Centerton, until moving to the Bradford House in Bentonville in August of 2011. Jean was preceded in death by husband, John Whitten in 1967; husband, Melvin Coffelt in 1998; sister, Betty Allen; son, Gary Whitten in 2007; and grandson, Tracy DeWitt in 2008. She is survived by her children, John David Whitten and wife, Linda, of Jefferson City, Mo., daughter-in-law, Jeri Whitten of Palestine, Texas, Jim Whitten and wife, Virginia, of Gentry, Cheryl Emery and husband, Brian, of Tulsa, Nancy Hardman and husband John, of Arkadelphia and Becky Pierce of Anderson, Missouri; step-children, Billie Kinyon and husband, Sherman, Rebecca Thompson, and Melvin Earl Coffelt and wife, Judy, all of Centerton, Ark.; 14 grandchildren; and 27 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, officiated by Conley Williams, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband, John Whitten, and near her grandson, Tracy DeWitt. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in Jean's memory to the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Association, PO Box 141, Hiwasse, AR 72739. Cremation arrangements are by Callison-Lough Funeral Home of Bentonville. Online condolences may be made at www.callisonlough.com.