Opal Doris Dearing

Opal Doris (Cooper) Dearing was born March 30, 1917, the youngest of seven children. She grew up on a farm in Northwest Arkansas until age 7, at which time the family moved to Rogers, AR. Typical of that era, it was a big deal when, as a teenager, her family home received electricity, indoor plumbing and a telephone! Her father died when she was 14. Opal helped supplement the family income by collecting and selling blackberries, together with her close relative and best friend, Ruby. In high school she worked after school mimeographing papers for the teachers and helping to grade exams.

After high school graduation Opal attended the School of Nursing at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN, graduating in 1941. The following year she joined the war effort, serving for the next three years as an army nurse, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant. She was part of the 300th company that entered Naples in 1943 and she served the troops as a nurse in the hospital over the next two years.

Following her discharge from the Army, Opal settled in Clovis, NM, continuing her nursing. There she met and married Herbert Dearing in 1949. Soon afterward they moved to Albuquerque, and then on to Aurora, CO with their family in 1964. Both Opal and Herb came to faith in Christ as their personal Savior as young people. Family, faith and the church were priorities in their lives. Herb died in 1999, just short of 50 years of marriage. Opal joined him in Jesus’ presence on January 7, 2015.

Survivors include her three children: Don Dearing, Mary Johnston and Sharon Chance; a step-daughter, Patricia Ellington; four grandchildren: Charles Johnston, Timothy Chance, Jennifer Buell and Terrie Martinez; and seven great grandchildren: Conner, Leah, Logan, Jude, Kail, Triston and Catalina.