Eugene D. (Gene) McGuire

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mr. Eugene D. (Gene) McGuire went home to be with his Lord and Savior Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, at Elmcroft of Blytheville. He celebrated his 100th birthday March 8, 2010.

Rising from an impoverished childhood in Alabama, Gene McGuire became a successful farmer in the Yarbro Community. On March 8, 1910, Gene was the fourth of six children born to Euric A. and Martha Thompson McGuire. He was the last surviving child.

His early years were spent in Bibb County, Ala., where his father was a coal miner. Later the family moved to Six Mile, Ala., where his father worked the family-owned poor red clay farm. Mr. McGuire had to drop out of school in the third grade to help with the farm. He said that on a good year each child might get an orange for Christmas.

Mr. McGuire left his parents in his late teen years to make his way during the depth of the Great Depression. He pursued a variety of occupations as he struggled to earn a living, sometimes working on a farm or construction job. While farming at Armorel, he met his soon-to-be bride, Vivian Abbott.

Shortly after the wedding, they moved to Kansas City, where Mr. McGuire helped build a bridge across the Missouri River. After several other construction jobs, they moved to Baton Rouge, La., where he worked on the Huey P. Long Bridge. Gene and Vivian wanted a permanent residence for their growing family so they moved to Yarbro in 1939 with their young daughter, Jo Alice. In the fall of 1940, Stephen (Steve) Eugene McGuire was born at Yarbro.

Mr. McGuire rented 80 acres and began farming with a team of mules. Soon he traded the mules for a Farmall tractor and continually added more equipment and farmland. He was one of the first farmers in Mississippi County to buy a mechanical cotton picker and later purchased 750 acres of rich farmland.

He suffered a stroke in 1965 and asked Steve to seek an early discharge from the Navy so he could help with the farm. They had the land leveled and drilled wells for center pivot irrigation. Gene and Steve left farming and sold their equipment in 1992.

Vivian died March 31, 1999, at the age of 88. After suffering a fall at his home at 1005 Country Club Road, Mr. McGuire spent several weeks in rehabilitation hospitals before moving to Elmcroft in 2004, where he was lovingly cared for by Tonya Jones and Patricia Nettles. He was a devout member of the First United Methodist Church.

Preceding him in death were his wife, Vivian; two grandchildren; and all of his brothers and sisters.

Mr. McGuire leaves his son, former Mississippi County Judge Steve McGuire, and his wife Anne, and a daughter, Mrs. Jo Alice McDonald and her husband, Tom, of Jonesboro.

He also leaves three grandchildren, Eric McGuire of Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Tyler McGuire of Blytheville and Mark McDonald of Fort Worth, Texas; and

Four great-grandchildren, Zach Hixson of Blytheville, Mitchel McDonald of Fort Worth, Meredith McDonald of Athens, Texas, and Julian Lyden of Little Rock.

Funeral services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Don Hall officiating. Burial will follow in Elmwood Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 2-3 p.m. Thursday prior to the service time in the church parlor.