Mrs. Eryon Hedrick

Eryon Phoneil (Gantt) Hedrick, born April 19, 1923, a cherished mother and grandmother passed away on September 13, 2007 at Jefferson Healthcare in Lee?s Summit, Missouri. The daughter of Henry Carl and Novis Lucille (Byrd) Gantt, Phoneil grew up in the Hurricane community of Northwest Louisiana, where she attended nearby Athens High School and Perry Business College in Arcadia, Louisiana. During the close of WWII, Phoneil and her husband Elliott Lee Hedrick moved to the Kansas City, Missouri area, living in midtown before moving to Chillicothe, Missouri. The couple moved back to the KC area where they would live out the remainder of there lives in the Ruskin Heights area and later, Grandview, Missouri. Phoneil spent the last twelve months of her life at the Jefferson Healthcare Home. During their many years in Kansas City, Phoneil attended the Linwood Presbyterian Church and the Ruskin Heights Baptist Church but found her grandest sense of identity with the Ruskin Heights Assembly Of God Church on Longview Road, where she faithfully attended weekly services with her friends and children. Phoneil?s greatest challenge in life however was not of a spiritual nature but of serious physical affliction. In her early thirties, Phoneil began to suffer the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis. For more than fifty years she battled the illness to the very end and did so without allowing the malady to impair her ability to care for others. She will be sorely missed and loved forever by all who knew her.
Phoneil was preceded in death by her husband; Elliott Lee Hedrick, her eldest son; Ronald Stephen Hedrick, a sister; Ellen Gantt, her first grandchild; Dana Michelle Hedrick and the husband of Phoneil?s granddaughter Metra; Mark Holt and cousins Joan (Byrd) Woodward, Doyle Watson and Ruey Watson. She is survived by her children; Donna Almai and son in law Ali Almai of Creighton, Mo., Cathy Little and son in law Michael Little of Lee?s Summit, Mo., Stan Hedrick and daughter in law Sharon (Harlow) Hedrick of Peculiar, Mo. and Dale Hedrick and daughter in law Olivia Hedrick of Kingsville, Mo., as well as her Aunt Ione Byrd of Arcadia, Louisiana, sisters Betty (Gantt) Morrow of Dallas, Texas and Roselyn (Gantt) Clark of Florida, brothers Pete Gantt of Ohio and Ragan Gantt of Miami, Florida, cousins Loretta (Pierce) Brandao of Shreveport, La., Richard Pierce of Shreveport, La., Lane Harmon of Shreveport, La., Jackie (Byrd) James and Donald Byrd of Arcadia, La., Dale Watson of Hurricane, La. and Farrell Watson of Fort Worth, Texas. Phoneil?s many grandchildren and family members included; Richard and Kim Hedrick, Janiece, Geoffrey, Ellianna and Sophia Leigh, Cathy, Brett, Madelyn and Reagan Mahurin, Metra (Almai) Holt, Brooke, Erin, Dylan and Emilee Little, Valerie and Mike Maynard, Nicole Steen, Oscar Buffardi and dear friends Gayle (Johnson) Hedrick, Edwin Strong and Margaret and Clyde Allen.

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