Lived most of her life in the Ava Leota Erdahl, daughter of Ben Dougherty and Ollie May (Lee) Dougherty, was born on Aug. 21, 1926, in Ava, Mo., and went to her heavenly home on Sept. 28, 2008 at Heart of the Ozarks Healthcare, Ava, at the age of 82 years.
Leota lived most of her life in the Ava community. She worked for several years at Rawlings Sporting Goods in Ava.
On Nov. 1979 Leota and Martin Erdahl were united in marriage. She enjoyed crafts and loved to sing, write songs and poems. Leota was a member of the Happy Home Church and loved attending every opportunity she could get.
She was preceded in death by her parents, four sisters, Dortha Phillips, Helen Davis, Hazel Erdahl and Verlon Dougherty; and four brothers, Bob, Clarence, Delbert and Asbery Dougherty.
She is survived by one brother and wife, Howard and Juanita Dougherty, Ava; special friend, Waneta Blackman; special niece and caretaker, Diana Bingham, Ava; many nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, great-great-great nieces and nephews and a host of other relatives and friends.
Services for Leota will be Thursday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava, with the Revs. Paul Welch and Raymond Haden officiating. Interment will follow in the Ava Cemetery. Visitation was 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home. The family requests memorials to the American Heart Association or Happy Home Church. Online condolences may be made to www.clinkingbeard funeralhome.com.
