Clara Ann Jetton Tedder, 94, of Paragould, passed away on June 16, 2024. She was born February 24, 1930, in Greene County, to Robert and Essie Jetton. She was a member of the church of Christ. Clara Ann graduated from Stanford High School and kept working on the family farm until the spring of 1949. She then married and moved to Memphis where she was employed at Sears and Roebuck in 1950, and where she and her husband had three children. Clara Ann and her three children moved to Paragould in 1960 where she continued to raise her children as a hard-working dedicated mother, homemaker and gardener. She will be remembered by many for her delicious peanut brittle and dill pickles. She was one of the last persons in Greene County to pick cotton by hand and she was always a welcome strawberry picker in various fields due to her “honesty and meticulous hard work.” Clara Ann retired from Emerson Electric in 1992 after working 20 years, and through the years would sell boxes of strawberries and bagged shelled peas to fellow Emerson workers and to folks outside of work who demanded to stay on her list of customers. Clara Ann was fulfilled when helping care for her grandchildren. She loved feeding them vegetables and fruits that she grew and cooked with love, and it was important to her to teach them to help in the garden.
Clara Ann was preceded in death by her parents; her son, William Douglas “Doug” Tedder; brother, Noel Jetton; and sisters, Juanita Johns and Marie Jetton.
Survivors include her daughters, Connie Watkins (Richard), and Janet Brandon (James); daughter-in-law, Connie Tedder; brother, Jerry Jetton (Frankie); sister-in-law, Verna Jetton; grandchildren, Jay Tedder (Abby), Jana Tedder Akins (Rob), Amber Brandon Witcher (Rusty), Brooke Brandon Ross (Allan), Cassie Brandon Scott (Charlotte), and Craig Brandon (Brittany); and great-grandchildren, Zeland, Rayah, Leena, and Aria Tedder, Mea and Iris Akins, Josh, Kelly Richard Tate Witcher, Brandon and Liam Ross, and Bentley Willard, Cannon, Emery and Kade Brandon.
The family will receive friends on Friday, June 21, from 10:00 a.m. at Phillips Funeral Home until the beginning of the celebration of Clara Ann’s life at 12:00 p.m. at Phillips Funeral Home. Connie Watkins, Jerry Jetton, and Tommy Spencer will be eulogizing Clara Ann during the celebration of life. Burial will follow at Morrow Cemetery.
Craig Brandon, Cassie Brandon Scott, Allan Ross, Brandon Ross, Liam Ross, and Sam Maners will serve as pallbearers.