Eugene Staton

Eugene Lionel Staton, 94, died at home on July 10, 2022. He was born August 30, 1927 in Fort Smith to Ezra Oran (E.O.) Staton and Faye Franklin Staton. His father was a manager at Tucker Duck and Rubber Company. After graduating from Fort Smith High School in 1945 — where his nickname was “Jeep” and he had the distinction of being voted “most bashful” — he attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he honed his bridge-playing skills over many hours at Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He graduated in 1949 with a degree in structural engineering. After a short stint working in Chicago, he returned to Fort Smith to support his mother after his father became ill and passed away. In Fort Smith he worked as a structural engineer at Haralson & Mott, which became Horstman & Mott, and in 1961 Mott, Mobley, Horstman and Staton, Architects—Engineer. He left in 1969 to start his own firm, and in 1982 formed with James Hudson the firm of Staton and Hudson, Inc. In 1991 he left Staton & Hudson and formed Staton Engineering, retiring a few years later.

Gene worked on many substantial buildings in western Arkansas, including The Superior Federal Savings and Loan Bank building (now the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum) and the restoration of Old Main at the University of Arkansas. He was a member of the Fort Smith City Planning Commission from 1967 to 1973. In 1968 he was the President of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Gene admired the work of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, leading him to design and build a house for his family in Fort Smith that reflected some of Wright’s approach to design – practical and with clean lines.

Gene was a meticulous and hard worker, but he always had time for his family and friends. His wife Dorothy and his daughters, Leslie and Katherine, have particularly fond memories of their summer family road trip vacations, when Gene took several weeks off from work to explore cities, towns, and national parks all over the country. He used to say to his daughters about their driving trips, “I don’t know what was worse — when you were fighting in the back seat, or playing.” Those trips led to a love of international travel in his later years, including many journeys to Europe and Asia. He valiantly studied French for a number of years. He especially enjoyed visiting his daughters’ families and his six grandchildren, all of whom deeply loved their Grandpa. His family loved hearing his old stories about growing up in Fort Smith, and reading about them in the memoir he wrote for his daughters. In recent years he enjoyed driving around Fort Smith and reminiscing. Gene was a long-time member of Southside Baptist and First Christian churches.

Gene is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 66 years; his daughter Leslie Silkworth and son-in-law Bill Silkworth; his daughter Katherine Staton and son-in-law Bob Bourque; his six grandchildren, Amanda van Lenten, Chris Silkworth, Will Silkworth, Alison Silkworth, Michael Bourque, and Annie Bourque; and four great-grandchildren, Foster, Devyn, and Camryn van Lenten and Samantha Silkworth.

Visitation will be Friday, July 15, 2022, from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM at Edwards Funeral Home.

Funeral Service will be 10:00 AM Saturday at Edwards Funeral Home Chapel with burial at Roselawn Cemetery.

Gene’s family wishes to thank his caregivers for the loving and thoughtful support they provided him — we know they will miss him too.

Memorials may be sent to: Heart of Hospice, 1401 S Waldron Rd. Suite 201, Fort Smith, AR 72903, or to

Southside Baptist Church Food Pantry, 2400 Dodson Avenue, Fort Smith, AR 72903.