Lela Doris (Spurlock) Nash

On Oct. 6, 2012, Lela Doris Nash, 83, entered into rest at John Knox Hospice in Lee’s Summit, Mo., after a valiant battle with cancer.

Lela was born Aug. 31, 1929 in Squires, Mo., to Stella Adeline (Kennedy) and Charles Monroe Spurlock, the youngest of 10 children. She attended Ava High School, graduating in 1947.

On May 28, 1951, Lela married Elroy G. Nash in Mountain Home, Ark., and their union produced three children. Right out of high school she taught at Kolb School near Squires and at several rural schools in Douglas and Ozark counties. She worked as a hairdresser in the Ava community for several years before the family moved to Kansas City.

She attended Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield and Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg and obtained a bachelor’s degree, along with a teaching certificate. Lela taught a combined first and second grade class in Strasburg, Mo., for 12 years. After retirement she operated a home-based day care to watch over her grandchildren and other children.

Lela’s hobbies included reading and writing, playing pitch and other card games, working crossword puzzles, and enjoying her friends and large, extended family. She enjoyed singing, playing piano, and reading to children of all ages.

Lela was preceded in death by her husband, Elroy in 1993; her parents; two brothers, John and Fred Spurlock; and six sisters, Velma Davis, Mary “Sis” Turner, Lula Kellogg, Elsie Russell, Maude Robertson and Ethel Warden.

She is survived by her three children, one daughter, Karen Sue Bennett and her husband Robert, of Lake Winnebago, Mo., her sons, Dwight Monroe Nash, DVM, and his wife Nancy, of Jacksonville, Fla., Michael Roy Nash, DVM, and his wife Charlene, of Bloomfield, Iowa. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Katie Evans and husband Mason, Emily Nash, Brian Bennett and wife Alexis, Christina Bennett, Steven and David Nash; and two great-grandchildren, Madison and Jackson Bennett. Also surviving, one brother, Charles E. “Chuck” Spurlock, of Squires; one brother in-law Jerry Nash and wife Kathleen, of Harrisonville, Mo.; and two sisters in-law, Lorene Nash, of Ava, and Dorothy Spurlock, of Squires; and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

Visitation was held at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9 with funeral following on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. Interment followed at Fannon Cemetery. Officiating was Pastor Oren Alcorn.

Memorial donations may be made to the Fannon Cemetery.

Online condolences may be made at www.clinkingbeardfuneral home.com.