Rita Wadene Ward 86, of Paris, died at 4:55 AM, Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at her home. Funeral services are set for 10:00 AM, Saturday, July 14, 2018, in the chapel of Fry & Gibbs Funeral Home with Rev. Samuel Evers officiating. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. No formal visitation hour will be observed.
Wadene was born January 28, 1932, in Poteau, Oklahoma to Wade and Esther Cox Cofer. She graduated from high school and received her BA degree in Bible and Missions from Southwestern Bible College. She married Louis William Ward on August 16, 1953, in Poteau. Mr. and Mrs. Ward were lay missionaries in Petersburg, Alaska where she was the Sunday school superintendent for several years. She was an active member of Pathway International Church of God where she taught the senior adult Sunday school class. The Wards had also attended the First Assembly of God and East Paris Baptist Church. She was a secretary, bookkeeper and most importantly, a caring mother, sister, and friend. She was a member of the PEO Chapter L of Loveland, Colorado and PEO Chapter FU in Paris.
Survivors include her husband, Louis W. Ward; two children, Christina Ward Shockley and husband, Keith and Randy Ward; two granddaughters, Anaka Shockley Smith and husband, Quinn and Liesl Shockley Grenier and husband, Eric; five great-grandchildren, Abram, Selah, and Simon Smith, and Camden and Caroline Grenier; two brothers, David Cofer and Ron Cofer and wife, Marsha; and two sisters, Anita Kerbow Barber and Shirley Slate and husband, Joe. She was preceded in death by her parents.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Pathway International Church of God or the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street, Miami, Florida 33131
