Bernis Warden Blair, 87
Funeral services for Bernis Warden Blair, 87, of Price Place, Arkansas, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home in Gainesville, with Jimmy Kyle officiating. Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m. the same day, before the service at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Price Place Cemetery.
Mr. Blair died Sept. 14 at Hospice of the Ozarks Hospice House in Mountain Home, Arkansas.
He was born on Sept. 25, 1938, the son of Elva O. Blair and Cousby J. (Shanks) Blair. He married Nina Willbanks on June 30, 1957, in a double wedding ceremony in Cleveland, Mississippi, with their lifelong friends, Ray and Alvalene Matthew. They were married for 57 years.
He was a member of the Frontier Baptist Church.
Mr. Blair worked for Smith and Loveless for 12 years, then moved to Price Place, Arkansas, where he worked at Baxter Lab for a time. He returned to Smith and Loveless/Ecodyne in Lenexa, Kansas, for 10 years to work as a dispatcher. He moved back to Price Place, Arkansas in 1983, where he went to work for the Marion County Road Department as a road grader operator, a job he loved. He seemed to know just about everyone. He never met a stranger and could talk for hours to anyone. His favorite saying when visitors got up to leave was “You might as well stay around; we’re all peaceful here.”
He loved to read Louis L’ Amour and William Johnstone westerns, and work word search puzzles, something he did every morning for years.
Mr. Blair is survived by his children: Rick Blair and wife, Marjorie, daughter, Tonja Cox, all of Price Place; his daughter, Lisa Copeland and husband Aaron of Choctaw, Oklahoma; grandsons Brock Peters, and wife Hannah, of Mountain Home, Arkansas; Daniel Cox, of Price Place; Drew Vaughn and wife Beth of Harrah, Oklahoma; Brandon Copeland and wife Kinzie; and Shane Copeland of Choctaw, Oklahoma; granddaughters Nicole Messick and husband Kain, of Sturtevant, Wisconsin; Monica Atwood and husband Phil of Kansas City, Missouri; Brittany Putman and husband, Zac of Midwest City, Oklahoma, Kara Atterbury and husband Jeff, of Choctaw, Oklahoma; Bethany Copeland of Midwest City, Oklahoma; Great grandsons Logan Messick of Sturtevant, Wisconsin, Carter Vaughn of Harrah, Oklahoma, Ryder Vaughn of Cabool, Beckham Copeland of Moore, Oklahoma; Kyle and William Atterbury of Harrah, Oklahoma; Bradley Atwood, of Kansas City, Missouri; Alex Peters of Mountain Home, Arkansas; Great granddaughters Taylor Atwood, of Kansas City, Missouri; Lillian Vaughn of Blanchard, Oklahoma; Charlette Mathis of Harrah, OK; Addalee Atterbury of Harrah, OK; Olivia and Lillian Peters, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, Madison Rush, Arkansas and three great-great grandchildren, Merek and Dawson Atwood of Kansas City, Missouri, and Oliver Rush, of Arkansas.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Nina Blair, his parents, Elva and Cousby Blair, and his sisters, Alene Mayberry and Euva Dodson.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Price Place Cemetery and to Hospice House, 774 Long St., Mountain Home, AR 72653. Arrangements