Adalene Peace Felts
COLUMBIA — Adalene Peace Felts was born the second child of John Sampson Peace and Pearl Swaggerty Peace in Stonington, Colo., on Sept. 16, 1922.
Adalene Peace Felts died Tuesday, July 12, 2011. She was 88.
The family was swept out of Colorado in the Dust Bowl era and eventually settled on a small farm and nursery near Carthage. She enjoyed following her father and learning the names and how to care for the flowers and shrubs.
One of her favorite jobs was cleaning out the chicken house. She remained an avid gardener and energetic organizer for the rest of her life.
When she was about 14, the family moved to Siloam Springs, Ark., where her parents bought and operated a flower shop and greenhouse.
Adalene Peace Felts did much of the housework and cooking for the family there. She is remembered as an excellent cook by her family and as someone who was interested in good nutrition and learning new ways of preparing delicious meals.
Adalene Peace Felts attended Southern Nazarene University (formerly Bethany Nazarene College) in Oklahoma, where she majored in home economics. While there, she met Doil Felts, and they were married in her parents' home in 1942.
Their daughter, Marcia Rhea, was born in 1944, son Edley Clay in 1948 and son John Trafton in 1950.
The Felts lived in many places in California, Oklahoma and Missouri. The family said they considered a place to be “home” when the furniture was set up in a new locale and they were gathered there.
When she was 38, Mrs. Felts finished her college degree in elementary education at what is now Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Okla.
The family then moved to Columbia, and she began a new chapter as a teacher as well as a pastor’s wife and homemaker. She taught fifth and fourth grades for nearly 20 years at Russell Boulevard Elementary School in Columbia.
In 1979, the Felts retired and moved to Siloam Springs, Ark., in order to help her aging parents and sister, Alice. Mrs. Felts was faithful to visit and care for them as each lived in the local nursing home for a time.
She and her husband built a home of her design, creating beautiful gardens about the house and seven acres.
Mrs. Felts was an expert at caring for the flowers, as well as bringing them in and arranging them. Mr. Felts raised a bountiful vegetable garden, and Mrs. Felts cooked and canned. She often put up more than 100 quarts of beans and as many jars of tomatoes and frozen corn in the summer. Her children loved to bring their own children to this beautiful place and looked forward to the delicious garden food served at her table.
In 1994, the Felts moved back to Columbia.
Good garden food continued to be a staple of life, and a continuing parade of colorful flowers gradually emerged about the yard. Mrs. Felts was particularly proud of her wildflower garden under the cedars. She designed and directed the construction of a sunroom that overlooked those cedars. She enjoyed watching a steady stream of birds that came to the many bird feeders.
In 1998, Mrs. Felts' companion of 56 years died. She continued to maintain the home and yard and was active in the Columbia Garden Club, water aerobics at the ARC, the Retired Teacher’s Association and the Fairview United Methodist Church. There she met and later married Robert Treece in 2004.
Mr. Treece died in January 2008, and Mrs. Felts moved into Candlelight Lodge. She and her family appreciate the kindness shown by the staff there. The family recognize for her as well as ourselves the friendship of Gene Chambers, also a resident of Candlelight Lodge, who died in May 2011.
Mrs. Felts died after a long struggle with increasingly severe dementia and several strokes. At Boone Hospital Center, as well as every step along the way, people liked Mrs. Felts because of her gentle and helpful spirit.
She is survived by her daughter, Marcia Odman and her husband, Bob, of St. Paul, Minn.; her son Edley Felts and his wife, Betty, of Alva, Okla.; and son John Felts and his wife, Brenda, of Columbia; seven grandchildren: Kim, Scott, Joseph, Matt, Daniel, Erika and Mary; 12 great-grandchildren Sam, Nicholas, Jack, Meghan, Jacob, Ryan, Stella, Lilah Adalene, Quinnlan, Noah, Emma and Adalynn.
Her sister, Alice Peace Wesner, and brother, Sammy J. Oliver Peace, died earlier.
Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Parker Funeral Services, 22 N. Tenth St. Services will follow at 11 a.m. at the funeral home.
Her family encourages friends to express their concern by a contribution to a charity of their choice in lieu of flowers.
Condolences can be posted at parkerfuneralservice.com.
