Owned a gas station in Gainesville several years ago John William Frye, the son of Samuel Secretus Frye and Edna Louise Smith Frye, was born on July 8, 1938, in Los Angeles, Calif., and departed this life on April 17, 2007 in Rogersville, at the age of 68 years.
J.W. was an auctioneer and had many other occupations. He was also a farmer and recently was a hurricane relief worker. J.W. loved working with his hands and was an intrepid adventurer. He was a welder, boot and saddle maker and a hard rock miner. J.W. owned a gas station in Gainesville several years ago. He also had a dozer business, ran his own sawmill and “many other items to many to mention.”
J.W. was preceded in death by his father.
His survivors include his mother, Edna Frye, Ava; two brothers, Steve Frye, Emigrant, Mont., and Samuel Frye Jr., Eugene, Ore.; companion, Shirley Newton, Rogersville; five children and their spouses, Rick and Lisa Frye, Lincoln, Ark., Tina and Mike Bowerman, Hindsville, Ark., Rocky and Tina Frye, Springdale, Ark., Matthew Frye, Ava, and Jared Frye, Springfield; 11 grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and a host of other relatives and friends.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, at the Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava, with Chaplain Cliff Rawley officiating. Visitation will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to service time in the funeral home.
Interment will follow in the Ava Cemetery. The family requests memorials to Oxford Healthcare Hospice or American Cancer Society in care of the funeral home. Online condolences may be made to www.clinkingbeardfuneralhome. com.
