Rosalea Searcy

Georgia RosaLea Duncan (She hated the Georgia!) was born on July 26, 1925, in Lincoln County, Okla., and departed this life on Thursday, Oct. 13, at her home in Cherokee Village, Ark., at the age of 91. RosaLea, the third of five children, was born with asthma. Her father died when she was five. At age eight, while she held her baby brother’s hand, he was accidentally shot and killed, an incident that haunted her for life. After experiencing so much trauma, she was thrilled a year later when her mother remarried, forming a blended family of nine children which expanded to ten with Ina Zae’s birth. Because RosaLea was such an adventuress, her brother Jimmy worried that she would become an outlaw. Instead, she was saved at age 14. The next night she received the Holy Ghost, which she credited as helping her to remain steadfast. Another significant event occurred that same year. She met Elmer Searcy. After a five-year, on-again, off-again courtship, they married on November 28, 1944. Six months later, Elmer almost lost his arm in a farming accident. They moved to Shawnee where RosaLea worked at Harps Produce and Cannery, attended a Pentecostal church pastored by a young Oral Roberts, and saw President Truman at the Shawnee Train Depot on his 1948 whistle-stop campaign. With the hospital bills finally paid, in 1949 the couple moved in with RosaLea’s mother, north of Prague, where they farmed until moving into town in 1988. On June 26, 1950, their only child, Cheri Lynn, was born. In 1955 RosaLea had rheumatic fever. Three months later, the Lord told her He was going to heal her and that when He did, He would heal her of asthma as well – and He did! RosaLea was the epitome of the twentieth century Proverbs 31 woman. A faithful member of the First Holiness Church of Prague, Okla., she not only taught junior and senior Sunday School classes but also led by example. Primarily a homemaker, RosaLea sided her husband in overseeing the Young Plantation as well as raising their own cattle and farming, where she could out-rake many men. In 1956, to keep Arlington School open, she got her chauffer’s license and became its “bus” driver so that Cheri could attend first grade at the rural school. In the 1950’s and 60’s, RosaLea supplemented the family’s income by picking up pecans. In 1978 she and her niece Sue Dukes began a finishing (painting and papering) business. Among their clientele were Parks Brothers Funeral Home (Prague), Tinker Air Force Base, and Representative Charlie Morgan’s home at Shangri-La. In the 1990’s she became a multilevel marketer for Vision for Life and for Matol, producer of Km, a health supplement. Despite her busy schedule, she always found time for others -- serving as “homeroom” parent during Cheri’s elementary years; driving people to doctors’ appointments, often at her expense; fixing her friends’ hair, with no charge. Neighbors benefited from the overflow of her truck patch and enjoyed the beautiful flowers in her yard. And when the need arose, hers was a home away from home for children -- Eddie Lee, Linda, David -- of many family and friends. Sparked by the family’s first vacation in 1958, RosaLea developed a traveling “bucket” list before anyone had heard of such a thing -- riding in a hot air balloon, seeing the Swiss Alps, visiting Israel, dog sledding in Alaska. Her desire to tour all 50 states appeared stymied by her stroke at age 70. Thanks to Cheri, she marked that item off in 2000. However, one adventure forever unchecked was bungee-jumping. In addition to traveling, RosaLea enjoyed her OU Sooners, St. Louis Cardinals, and Dallas Cowboys; Gaither videos; and her bear collection which numbered 170. After living briefly in Shawnee again, Elmer and RosaLea moved to Cherokee Village, Ark., in 2008 and attended Midway Pentecostal Church (Thayer, Mo.). RosaLea was preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, Elmer E. Searcy; her mother, Iona (Booth) Duncan Moore; her father, Johnie Edward “Ed” Duncan; her stepfather, Otho Moore; four brothers: Jim, Bill, and Donnie Duncan and Clinton Moore; five sisters: Oleta (Duncan) Banks, Velma (Moore) Hollon, Billie (Moore) Patterson, Bessie (Moore) Branstetter, and Ina Zae (Moore) Boswell. Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Cheri and John Quattrochi of Cherokee Village, Ark.; one sister, Margie (Moore) Day of Concord, Calif.; and a host of family and friends.