Carol Irene Hembree

Carol was born on December 26, 1933 in Des Moines, Iowa to Harold B. Jones and Maude Grace Oliver Jones. She lost her mother at an early age and was lovingly raised by her stepmother Frances Haglund Jones and her grandmother Grace Jones. She met and married the love of her life, James "Jim" Hembree, at Denver University when they were both students preparing to be teachers. Together, Carol and Jim moved to Hoonah, Alaska where they lived for nearly 30 years, teaching school and raising three sons, Jim, Forest, and Brad. Throughout 62 years of marriage, Carol enjoyed a life filled with adventure, living at various times in Saint Paul Island, Dillingham, Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska and in recent decades in Roanoke, Virginia, and in El Dorado and Pangburn, Arkansas. Wherever she went, she created a loving home filled with Christian faith and goodness.

Throughout her life, Carol inspired everyone who knew her with her beautiful music, especially her incomparable soprano voice. In her early years, she sang in a cappella choirs at South High School in Denver, Colorado and at Bethany College in Kansas. In Hoonah, she directed and sang in the Presbyterian Church Choir. She also sang with Juneau Jubilee, and with the El Dorado Chorale. One of the highlights of her later life was to direct the Junction City Presbyterian Church choir in Arkansas and, in her own words, "to really get them to sing."

Carol is gratefully remembered by generations of students in whom she inspired self-confidence in their ability to succeed, and by the countless people who felt blessed by her glorious music. She is loved beyond words by her family to whom she gave her all, sacrificing much for their benefit and making them who they are today.

Carol is preceded in death by her parents Harold and Maud Jones, by her stepmother Frances Jones, and her grandparents Albert “Bert” and Grace Jones. She is survived by her husband James Donald Hembree, her sons James Monroe Hembree, Forest Harold Hembree (Barbara), and Bradley Paul Hembree, her grand-daughters Hollee, Kellee, and Alexee Hembree, and great grandchildren Evelyn and Raguel.

Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 19, 2019 at Scotland Presbyterian Church in Junction City, Arkansas with a visitation held the hour prior to the service. Interment will follow at Old Parker's Chapel Cemetery.

An online memorial can be found at www.youngsfuneralhome.com.