Stories from Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Freddie Smith, Jr. of Blytheville was born April 13, 1953, in Turrell to the late Freddie Smith, Sr. and the late Margie D. Jones Dooley. He was a factory worker and retired from NIBCO. Mr. Smith passed away Dec. 16, 2021, at Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock at the age of 68. ...

Mary Carolyn Hayes, 76, of Manila passed from this life Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Lakeland, Fla., at the home of her daughter. Born in Bassett and raised in Wilson, she was the daughter of the late Robert and Verla Hill Stout. Mary had been an employee of the former Buffalo Island Community Hospital in Manila and retired from the Beebe Nursing Center as a dietitian in 2006 after 15 years of service before returning to Manila.  In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three brothers, Charles Stout, Jimmy Stout and Donnie Stout; and two grandsons, Nicholas Jackson and Jerry "Tuffy" Reynolds.. ...

Linda Faye Hamm, 81, of Bruton Branch, Savannah Tenn., formerly of Blytheville, passed away peacefully on Dec. 7, 2021, in her home. Linda was born March 4, 1940, in Osceola, the daughter of the late John T. and Betty J. Porter Driver. On Aug. 31, 1958, she was united in marriage to Earnest Hamm, who preceded her in death on July 29, 2018, just shy of their 60th anniversary. ...

The Blytheville Police Department participated in “Shop With A Cop” on Friday. BPD raised more than $6,000 to provide Christmas toys for children in need. A large chunk of the money came from a $5,000 Walmart community grant. The program served 15 children who were given $400 each to spend...