Angel Lopez

Angel E. Lopez has passed from this world. On the evening of Wed. Nov. 11, 2009, he quietly slipped away from us in his sleep. Angel was born on Oct. 6, 1936 to Severeino and Angelina Lopez in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico. In his youth, Angel worked as a deckhand on fishing boats and was the youngest ever tarantula guard on a banana boat. As any educated person will tell you, the tarantula guard works at night armed with a long bamboo pole and when the tarantulas emerge from the banana bunches to feed the guard knocks them into the water with the pole. His promising career was cut short when his mother, now divorced, remarried an American, Mr. Robert Cates. The family moved to Biloxi, Miss. where Angel finished school and married his High School sweetheart, Ms. Edna Raley. Angel joined the United States Air Force in Sept. 1954 and served proudly until his retirement in Jan. 1975. During those 21 years, Angel and Edna raised a family. Their firstborn, his father's namesake, was too precious for this world and was called back shortly after his birth. Angel and Edna endured and soon after, Peggy Joann, Teresa Lynn, Anthony Emile and Tracy Jean were born and the Lopez family traveled the world visiting exciting and exotic places like the Phillipine Islands, Columbus, Mississippi and Minot, North Dakota, until Angel retired in Jacksonville, Ark. Angel is survived by his ex wife, (he knows what he did!) Edna Mae Lopez, his children, Peggy Joann Breeding, Teresa Lynn Finnegan, Anthony Emile Lopez and Tracy Jean Lopez, his son in law, Johnny Finnegan, his daughter in law, Linda Diane Lopez, his grandchildren, Dreama Rene Lopez, Christopher Lee Delisle and six great grandchildren. Angel's family lives in Jacksonville, Ark., Orlando, Fl., and Vermont and we will miss his smile and his laughter but mostly we will miss his wicked sense of humor that left us sometimes feeling guilty as we laughed ourselves purple in the face. Rest now, Angel, there is no more pain. We love you. Always.
Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at Open Door Community Church in Sherwood with burial and military honors following the service at Arkansas State Veterans' Cemetery in North Little Rock.
Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at Huson Funeral Home in Sherwood.
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