Gwendolyn Marjorie Farrell

July 6, 1929 (National City, California) to August 11, 2025 (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

To know Gwen (Grandma) Farrell was to know a woman long before her time. A woman who at 96 years old was styling her hair and doing her makeup on the daily. Always looking Father Time in the face and respectfully chuckling, Grandma Gwen was still sporting leather pants and fur coats at an age when most women would have resigned to a house coat and slippers, if not a hospital gown.

Speaking of Father Time, Grandma Gwen was still driving her own car and heading to her very favorite restaurants after her 96th birthday. Because a good meal is something she had always enjoyed and shared with her children and grandchildren. Although homemade Thanksgiving meals with the best "paper grocery bag" turkey you have ever tasted might have been replaced with a stroll through the Golden Corral buffet, no one left Grandma Gwen's company without a full belly and at least a laugh or two about our crazy family.

As a working woman long before her time, Grandma Gwen enjoyed a very lucrative real estate career in Orange County through most of her young adult life. A career that, at times, provided a beautiful oceanfront lifestyle which meant everything to a woman who loved all things beach and ocean. An animal lover at heart, this is also where she would feed a family of raccoons on the daily. Despite the neighbors detesting such "rodents", Grandma Gwen instead saw living creatures in need of food and shelter and took them under her wing. She and her son Brett did the same with their beloved rescue cat Trixie, who Grandma leaves behind with her son Brett in the home they shared in Fayetteville, Arkansas; truly an animal loving home where she also enjoyed regular visits with her son Don's beloved dog, Cowboy.

Speaking of seeing a need, Grandma Gwen devoted several years of her life as a volunteer in the U.S. Coastguard; the perfect outlet for a woman with her smarts, work ethic, and love of the ocean ; while fulfilling a service to her country, an accomplishment for which she was incredibly proud.

But despite her lucrative real estate career and commitment to the U.S. Coastguard, anyone who knew Grandma Gwen, knew that the legacy for which she was most proud was her family. Daughter of Roger Lindholm and Emma Riley Lindholm, Grandma Gwen was the middle child and only sister, surviving both her older brother, Roger Lindholm and younger brother, Gordon Lindholm as well as her son-in-law, Richard Koryta and two of her Grandsons, Daniel Koryta and Damon Mobley. Survived by her four children, Sharon Pearson Koryta, Sheryl Pearson Sanders, Donald Mobley, and Brett Farrell, Grandma Gwen also leaves behind ten Grandchildren; Traci Edwards (and husband Jeff) Rick Koryta (and wife Patty) Jason Koryta (and wife Michella), Wendi Todd, Jamie Koryta, Sarah Sanders, Andy Sanders, Ryan Koryta (and wife Aimee), Danielle Woo (and husband David) and April Weathers (and husband Nick). And how many people can celebrate a legacy that also includes 22 Great Grandchildren and 27 Great Great Grandchildren. Yes, in typical Grandma Gwen fashion, she went BiG and left a legacy of four more generations behind her.

No family is perfect and Grandma Gwen's family is no exception to that rule. But one thing to be learned from her is to find the good, no matter the situation at hand. Whether it was traveling the world to see new places, her very favorite of which was New Zealand, to crafting beautiful porcelain dolls with her daughters, to moving to Arkansas to be with her two sons, to teaching her Grandchildren how to catch pollywogs in the stream, to sharing her amazing brown sugar fudge recipe with her Granddaughters, to telling us to "just put more butter on the garlic bread" during a family conflict, to calling down the family tree of her children and grandchildren until someone would finally answer their phone, to making everyone the most delicious cup of hot tea you could ever taste, to breaking out Johnny Mathis on the piano in her living room, Grandma Gwen knew how to be in the moment and focus on the good.

And speaking of the good, we do not need to worry about where Grandma Gwen resides or if she is at peace. As a woman of incredible faith, she would tell anyone who would listen that we are not in charge of this life and we need to put our faith in God. She trusted Him with all her heart and because of that, her surviving family can rest in peace, knowing she is in a place that knows nothing but good. And as a family that had reached five generations, now down to four, may we all take a page out of Grandma Gwen's playbook and not mourn her loss. Instead, may we all uphold her legacy, love one another, and always, above all else, look for the good in this gift called life.

Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Brotherton Cremation Services, 914 N. 32nd St., Fort Smith, Arkansas 72903. (479) 434-3901 or (479) 965-8202.

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