Mildred O’Neil Larson

DELAND, Fla. — Mildred O’Neil Larson, 87, died at 3:30 Sunday afternoon, Jan. 23, 2010, at the Florida Hospital in DeLand, Fla.

O’Neil, daughter of the late Clarence Bliss and Sue Jane Bowman, was born in Rockbridge near Tompkinsville, on Jan. 3, 1923. She put her faith in Christ as Lord and Savior at the tender age of 14. She graduated from Temple Hill High School in 1941 followed by Bowling Green Business College. Being offered a secretarial position with the Ordinance Division in the Pentagon, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 1942. While attending evening classes at the Washington Bible Institute, she met her soon-to-be lifelong partner, Gordon Larson, who was playing clarinet in the Army Band.

O’Neil and Gordon married in August of ‘46 and then attended Nyack Missionary Training Institute, Houghton College, Asbury Seminary and the Summer Institute of Linguistics. During this period they also pastored the Andover Alliance Church, N.Y., and Church of the Nazarene, Jamestown, before leaving in 1952 to serve in Papua, Indonesia (formerly Netherlands New Guinea) with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. With her husband, O’Neil worked among the stone-age Moni and Western Dani tribes people in the central highlands, teaching in the Western Dani Witness School and coordinating the Literacy Program among a people with no prior written language. They retired to Lexington, in 1992 after 38 years of missionary service.

O’Neil is survived by her beloved husband of 63 years, Gordon Larson, and four children: Marlene (Larry) Anderson, Romaine (Jim) Webber, Daniel Larson and David (Shelayne) Larson; nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Her older sister, Inez Marrs, and brothers-in-law, William Marrs and Leslie Jaggers, preceded her in death. Surviving siblings are Evans (Betty) Bowman, Christine (Maxey) Oliver and Sue Carol Jaggers.

O’Neil greatly enjoyed singing, reading, gardening, scrapbooking and corresponding with family and friends. But her passion in life was her love for the Lord, demonstrated in the energy put into the literacy program in Papua, time spent in his Word and her faithful prayers for those in spiritual and physical need.

Services to honor O’Neil will be as follows: Viewing/visitation Saturday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m. ET, followed by Memorial Service at 11 a.m. ET at First Alliance Church, 2201 Old Higbee Mill Road, Lexington. A service at the burial site begins at 3:30 p.m. CT at Poplar Log Cemetery in Barren County.

In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to: Western Dani Bible Translation in honor of Mildred O. Larson, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, P. O. Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500.



Florence Hazel Sharp

SMITHS GROVE – Florence Hazel Sharp, 82, died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, at her residence.

She was the daughter of the late Frank Dennison and Virgie Mae Wright Dennison and she was the wife of the late John Powers and Laine Sharp.

Funeral service will be 1 p.m. Friday at Hardy & Son Funeral Home, Bowling Green Chapel, with burial in Fairview Cemetery No. 2. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.



SERVICES

HARDYVILLE — Grace Brooks, 92, passed away at 8:10 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, at NHC Healthcare in Glasgow. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, at Winn Funeral Home Chapel, Horse Cave, with burial in Center Cemetery.



LOUISVILLE – Patricia Ann Bishop Ewing, 69, formerly of Glasgow, died Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington after a brief illness. Funeral service will be 1 p.m. EST Thursday at Owen Funeral Home, 5317 Dixie Highway, with burial in Louisville Memorial Gardens, West.



GLASGOW — James Murrell Steenbergen, 72, died Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Thursday at A.F. Crow & Son Funeral Home with burial in Glasgow Municipal Cemetery.