Patsy Ruth Fisk Counts

Patsy Ruth Fisk Counts was born in Nashville, AR, on December 30, 1931, to James (Jim) and Viola Sutton and left this earth on December 18, 2025, 12 days shy of her 94th birthday. She would be the middle sibling with older sister Jimmie Hervey and baby sister, Sherry Johnston. Her dad would eke out a living on a small farm and in later years would become locally known for his 20 acre peach orchard at Blue Bayou where they all called home.

Life would be difficult for young Patsy having been born during the Great Depression in Arkansas. She often told stories of how "proper" clothes were difficult to get and when she became an older adult she made SURE she had plenty of shoes and outfits to wear!

When she was 19 she met and later married Wade Fisk from Provo. They would make their first home in a lumber camp (a group of shotgun houses furnished by the Dierks Lumber Co.) literally where the Lockesburg Cemetery is now. She'll be buried a few feet from the site of their first home.

Their first child, James (Linda) of Russellville, would be followed by Jerry (Lorraine) of Nashville, Stanley (Diane) of Hot Springs, Clayton (Angela) of Clinton, and Patrick (Melissa) of Benton.

While Wade was working for the Farmer's Co-op in Lockesburg, he would enter the ministry as a "tent making" preacher in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination and Patsy would support him and his ministry as a stay-at-home mom, doing a wonderful job of raising her sons, at least according to her boys. After her kids were able to take care of themselves, she would begin a career as a state poultry inspector at a chicken processing plant in De Queen. Having her own money was a boon to her and enabled her to create a wardrobe fit for the queen she was and we're embarrassed to say how many shoes and outfits she had but Imelda Marcos was jealous!

She would marry Frank Counts and they would enjoy carving a beautiful home and yard out of a wilderness east of De Queen and going RVing until his death and a later union with Calvin Hearn until his death.

Her last few years would be in a 50+ retirement village in Hot Springs where her middle son, Stanley, cannot be praised enough for caring for her!

She is preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, James Wade Fisk, Frank Counts, and Calvin Hearn and a sister, Jimmie Hervey

She is survived by her five sons and daughters-in-law, eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, her youngest sister, Sherry Johnston, and sister-in-law, Maude Burris and a number of nieces and nephews.

She will be missed. If there were two family members getting together, she wanted to be in the middle of it. She was a people person, the ultimate social butterfly who loved her family and her many friends!

A memorial service for Mrs. Patsy Counts will be held at 11:00 A.M., Monday, December 22, 2025, in Chandler Funeral Home Chapel with James Fisk Officiating. Cremation Arrangements are under the direction of Chandler Funeral Home in De Queen, Arkansas. You may leave an online sympathy message at www.chandlerfuneral.com or you may visit Chandler Funeral Home on Facebook