Nellie Louise Woolbright

Nellie Louise Jenkins Woolbright died on January 6th at the age of 104 having enjoyed her 105th Christmas and New Year’s in the home where she moved in June of 1931 with her husband, Henry Howard Woolbright, who preceded her in death on August 8, 1972. Nellie was born on the Lindsley Prairie across the road from the Lone Elm Church north of the present Siloam Springs Airport on October 7, 1911, to Clarence Stanley and Mary Louisa Stultz Jenkins. Her grandfather was a pioneer in the area and donated the land for the Lone Elm Cemetery in 1904. Nellie never lived more than 3 miles from the home where she was born, where she rode a pony to school and was among the few rural children who paid the tuition then needed to attend high school in Siloam Springs. She met Henry Woolbright, a local barber, in late 1930, he proposed on Valentine’s Day 1931, and they were married St. Patrick’s Day in the old North Methodist Church, later the Church of the Nazarene. She was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church. Nellie and Henry survived the Depression by raising chickens, pigs, cows and growing a large garden, a hobby she kept for 75 years. She liked to say that she bore the number of children she had wished for: two boys and two girls, then had three more boys. Her children – Jimmie Lee, William Henry, Jane Lenore, Nina Luellen, Thomas Dalton, Daniel Joe, and Jackie Shane - survive her as do 14 grandchildren, 21 great grand children, and 14 great great grand children. She was preceded in death by her granddaughter Athea Beth Woolbright and her half-sister Mattie McCollom. Nellie rarely traveled beyond Siloam Springs but read constantly of the world her entire life. While not traveling herself, people from around the world stopped at her modest home to see her regularly with over 100 coming for her 100th birthday. Her popularity came from her fine hospitality for all who were guests and for the quality of her letters as Nellie was in her way a great woman of letters. Her fine hand graced a page with the mundane events of life in Siloam Springs and endeared her to all who received them All who visited also remember her fine table replete with fresh vegetables, preserved fruits, local juices, fresh milk from the cow she would milk promptly at 5:00 a.m. each morning, and prime beef from pampered cattle. Fresh churned butter for the bread and preserves of melon and peach were often on hand as well as home spun ice cream. Nellie worked from early to late from 1931 until 1974 when the last of her children left home and for years thereafter helping with grandchildren. Her tables groaned with the weight of books and collections of stories as well as saved newspapers and letters. Nellie Woolbright lived in a time when she saw the first working radio delivered to the Lindsley Prairie, survived to the time of television and then instant communications, yet used the written word and the mail service to show many of us time and again the value of true communications. She is buried next to Henry at Oak Hill Cemetery. A family memorial service is pending. The family asks that in lieu of flowers contributions be sent to the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, 323 Center Street, #1500, Little Rock, AR 72201. The Commission has helped in the protection of the native Lindsley prairie Nellie cherished. The family wishes to thank the many who have called and written and sent their best wishes.

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Nellie Louise Woolbright

October 7, 1911 - January 6, 2016