Loretta (Lori) Tyner Nicholes, a longtime Conway resident, age 81, died May 24, 2018. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday May 31 at Gill Cemetery in Van Buren, Arkansas.

Loretta was born July 15, 1936, in Henryetta, the first child of Fred and Pauline (Loyd) Tyner. She spent her early years near Goltry on a wheat farm homesteaded by her great-grandfather, Beverly Ward Tyner, during the 1893 Cherokee Strip Land Run.

She graduated from Goltry High School in 1954 and attended Draughon's School of Business in Oklahoma City. She also attended Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in Batesville, Arkansas, and UCA in Conway, Arkansas.

She was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and of the Arkansas Army National Guard, Headquarters Squadron. She retired from the Veterans Administration Medical Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1997. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.

She grew up as a member of the First Congregational Church of Goltry but became a Methodist in 1958. She was a member of the original Wesley United Methodist Church of Conway and continued attending the new church. Two of her daughters were married in the new church, although she was unable to attend much in her later years due to ill health.

She was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Michelle Williams Forsyth of Conway; by her parents, Fred and Pauline Tyner of Charleston, Arkansas; and by a brother John Tyner, also of Charleston.

She is survived by her daughters, Paula Smith of Conway, Sandra Lester and husband, Jay, of Conway and Rebecca Whiteaker and husband, Randy, of Batesville, Arkansas. Grandchildren include Ben Lester of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Jack Lester of Conway and Emma Whiteaker of Batesville. Her grandchildren were the light of her life.

She is also survived by a sister, Carolyn Tyner Watteau of Conway; a brother, Michael Tyner of Charleston; and several generations of nieces and nephews.

Loretta was an avid reader; she learned to read before she went to school, and it has been one of the great pleasures of her life. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the Faulkner County Library.