of Fayetteville, AR

September 25, 1935 - November 14, 2018

Nancy Jean Kitchell Baledge, age 83, of Flippin, Arkansas, passed November 14, 2018 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

According to Nancy she was born September 26, 1935 in Marion County, Arkansas at Frank Flippin's fish camp. Her namesake grandmother, Nancy Oda, was ''dating'' Frank at the time. She was the third of four children born to her parents, Gaither and Grace Helen Kitchell. Except for a short stint in Wichita during the war she grew up within 100 yards of either end of the Cotter Bridge. One year her mother Grace and stepfather, Joe Treat, traveled to Leachville, Arkansas to pick cotton. There she met the love of her life, Billy James Baledge. To slow the budding relationship her parents retreated to Wichita, Kansas but Bill immediately followed. He and Nancy were married in Kansas on August 31, 1950.

In her early years she waitressed at Miss Tollie Wooten's hotel in Cotter, at the Innes Tea Room in Wichita and worked on and helped manage the Baledge cotton farm in Leachville. However, family was always Nancy's first priority and once children arrived she insisted on establishing roots in Flippin. While raising four children she also worked at the Mar-Bax shirt factory, for Flippin Public Schools as an elementary teacher aid, and for the U.S. Postal Service delivering a rural mail route for seventeen years. In her spare time, she also kept things in order at the family business, Bill's Garage.

Nancy was a talented seamstress, and regularly provided clothes and fun costumes for family. She was not particularly interested in cooking, except for desserts which she loved, and holidays were always festive and fun at the Baledge house. Nancy was involved in PTA, loved her Red Hat group and stayed busy and happily involved in the community. She loved to fish and enjoyed time her neighbors, Hilda, Heidi, and Bobby Keenan. Once her mail duties were finished she traveled regularly with family and friends, visiting eleven countries.

Nancy is preceded in death by her husband Billy James Baledge; her mother Grace Helen (Thrasher) and Theodore ''Joe'' Treat; her father Gaither Kitchell; and sister Deloris Kitchel Clem and her husband, William McDonald Clem; and step-sister Billy Nell Treat Diffey.

Nancy is survived by four children: Corrinnia (Baledge) and Richard Briggs of Fayetteville; Les and Mina Goffin Baledge of Fayetteville; Lee and Sherri Young Baledge of Springdale; Len and Cammie Sublette Baledge of Prairie Grove; and a special god daughter, Rachel (Stewart) and Bobby Garza of Tucson, Arizona. She is also survived by her brothers Dwain Kitchel of Knoxville, Tennessee; and Gaither Kitchell and his wife Paula of Las Vegas, Nevada. Her grandchildren are Caitlin Briggs Krantz, Drew Baledge, Brody Baledge, Brooke Baledge, Barrett Baledge, Gavin Baledge, Mary Audra Baledge, Isaac Baledge, Clara Baledge, and Mason Garza.

Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 pm, Tuesday, November 20, at Roller-Burns Funeral Home, Yellville, Arkansas.

Graveside service will be 10:30 am, Wednesday, November 21 at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Cotter, Arkansas. Rev. Ken Davenport will be officiating.

Memorials may be sent to Flippin Public Schools, 210 Alford, Flippin, Arkansas 72634 (to be designated for food, clothes, books or enrichment.)

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