Eva Sherman Furr, 97, of Mena, died Saturday, March 13, 2010, in Rich Mountain Nursing and Rehabilitation at Mena.

Born Eva Sherman in Wheeling, La., May 15, 1912, she was the daughter of the late Rev. Charles Wilkins and Era Brown Sherman. She attended A &M, now Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia, and went on to graduate from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Mrs. Furr was a public school teacher for 36 years In Locust Bayou; Haynesville, La.; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Camden.

Now at the end her teaching career, she completed a master’s degree in education at Henderson State University She was a long-time member of Delta Kappa Gamma, a teaching sorority.

She had interrupted her teaching career before marriage to become involved in the new field of social work.

She was hand-picked to participate in fast-track social work graduate studies at Tulane University, in order to provide professional personnel for President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

She entered the profession in Claiborne Parish where her family resided. In short order she moved into a position administering the parish welfare office and became the highest-paid woman in that parish.

When she married, she re-entered the teaching profession in Bakersfield, Calif., and never again left teaching until she retired at age 65.

Mrs. Furr was a member of the Haynesville, La., Methodist Church, Camden Methodist and Mena Methodist.

At Camden. she taught Sunday School to children. and later to adult women, as well as teaching at a local nursing home.

She initiated a local jail ministry through the Camden First Methodist Church and served as a representative on the church’s administrative board.

As a young woman she joined the Women’s Society of Christian Service organization that preceded United Methodist Women (UMW) and remained active in UMW until she entered a nursing home.

She was a long-time member of the League of Women Voters, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Magna Charta Dames.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Era Babers, Lizzie Ruth Babers, and Leah Gordon, and by her loving husband of 49 years, Buell Hollis Furr.

The Furrs lived in Bakersfield, Calif., where Buell was stationed in World War II and where daughter Era was born, then moved briefly to Locust Bayou following the war before settling in Camden.

A while after losing her husband, Mrs. Furr moved to the home of her daughter in Mena and then to a nursing home there for her remaining years.

She is survived by daughter, Era Looney; her husband, J. W.; and grandson, Jason of Mena. A loving sister, wife, mother, and grandmother, she lived a long and good life, surrounded by those who loved her.

Funeral services will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Proctor Funeral Home in Camden, with Buddy Ratliff officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Public visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday.  Memorial gifts in honor of Eva Sherman Furr are requested for the Public Library of Camden and Ouachita County or the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). 

To sign the online guest register, visit www.proctorfuneralhome.com.