Opal Bearden, 94
Memorial services for Opal Marie McCollum Bearden, 94, of Gainesville, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at the First Christian Church in Gainesville with the Rev. Bobby Jo Wade officiating. A reception for friends and family will follow the service at the church. Opal died Jan. 5 in Forsyth.
She was born Feb. 21, 1929, in Southern Illinois, the daughter of William and Hattie McCollum. In 1947, she married her sweetheart Bill Bearden in Illinois. They had a son, Dale. Later they relocated to the San Diego, California, area, where their second son, Don, and daughter, Sue, were born.
After being a stay-at-home mom for 18 years, Opal began her 18-year nursing career as an ICU nurse at Paradise Valley Hospital in Chula Vista, California. After she became disabled, she and her husband started a family business, Bearden Flight Training, in 1985 in San Diego. The business flourished over the years as Bill and Opal worked together with their children and grandchildren. Bearden Flight Training put Brown Field Municipal Airport on the map for flight students all over the world. That little airport became a big part of their family and community. Opal made lifelong friends there and was a long-time member at Bethany Assembly of God in Chula Vista.
After Bill died in 1998, and their son Donald died in 1999, she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, Sue and Todd Herning. In 2004, she moved with them to Gainesville.
Opal was known to her family, friends and community as a humble giver and a woman of endearing faith. She was known to feed anyone who walked through her door. She faithfully donated to her most cherished causes, even when she had very little herself. She was an active member of the First Christian Church in Gainesville, and when asked what her greatest accomplishment in life was, she replied, “Family.”
She is survived by her son Dale Bearden and wife Roxanne and daughter Sue Herning and husband Todd; seven grandchildren, Marsha Green and husband Tim, Dawn Carnes and husband Mike, Dustin Wynn, Tami Wynn, William Bearden, Jimmy Wynn and wife Liz, and Matt Bearden and wife Cara; 10 great-grandchildren, Torianna, Talen, Rylen, Julia, Malachi, Mya, Jonah, Maddox, Jackson and Sam; and two great-great-grandchildren, Everett and Emelia.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband and son; sisters Joyce Cooper, Sharon Swafford and Beverly Forest; and brother William McCollum.
Memorial contributions may be made to the cause that was dearest to Opal's heart: STL Cure Sarcoma (stlcuresarcoma.org).