Lou Ann Locke

Lou Ann Lewis Locke was never one to be contained.  She enjoyed traveling, discovering, making friends and living out her dreams.  In her time she was a missionary (Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China, Russia), college professor, social worker, mother to two decent sons and wife to the same man for sixty-one years.  She enjoyed reading poetry, writing humorous essays and remembrances, arranging flowers, setting a nice table and cooking Chinese food for twenty or more at the drop of a hat.  She could discourse learnedly on her fields of study, preach in fluent Cantonese and help peasants plant rice paddies.  Mrs. Locke visited refugee camps in Laos, traveled the Khyber Pass, rehabbed houses and started the Foster Grandparents program in Arkadelphia.

A firm believer in education for all, even though she was born in a time when education for women was not well supported, she graduated from the Women’s Division of the University of North Carolina (BA), Texas Christian University (MA) and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (MSW).  She was chair of the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology at Hong Kong Baptist College, lectured in sociology and social work at Ouachita Baptist University and taught in a number of universities in China and at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Moscow.

Mrs. Locke travelled far – physically, emotionally, spiritually – from her first breath in Goldsboro, NC (March 25, 1932) to her final breath in Arkadelphia, AR (September 29, 2019).  Human words cannot do justice to such a vast and rich life.  Instead, let us summarize with the divine words she must have heard when she crossed from this life to the next, “Welcome home, good and faithful servant.”

Lou Ann Lewis Locke was the daughter of Jim and Ruth Lewis and younger sister of her brother Gene.  She is survived by her husband Charles Kenneth, her sons Ken and Larry and their respective families.

Acts of kindness – flowers, donations to your favorite church or charity, cards and letters – are greatly appreciated and will help sustain us in our grief.

Visitation will be from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Friday, October 4, 2019 with the Funeral Service following at Ruggles Wilcox Funeral Home; Will Thompson officiating. Interment will follow in the Jones Cemetery in Brown Springs.