Eileen Harris Harkins

Funeral service for Mrs. Eileen Harris Harkins will be 2 p.m. Saturday, December 19, 2009 in the chapel of Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery of Natchitoches under the direction of Blanchard St. Denis. The family will receive friends at Blanchard St. Denis from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, December 18, 2009. Mrs. Eileen Harkins, 88, passed away Wednesday, December 16, 2009. She was born Sunday, April 10, 1921 to the late Charles Luther Harris, Sr. and Lessie Wright Harris in Zwolle, LA. She was also preceded in death by her husband Charles “CJ” Harkins; brothers, Charles Randall Harris, Charles Luther Harris, Jr., Dallas Ray Harris; and sister, Thelma Berry. She did a great deal of volunteer work for the Council on Aging and RSVP. She was a long time member of the 1st Baptist Church of Natchitoches. She was a graduate of Noble High School and attended Northwestern State University. Those left to cherish her memory include her daughters, Jeannette Permenter and her husband Roy of Surprise, AZ and Joyce Lakner and her husband Wayne of Santa Fe, TX sister, Bobbie Sparks of Natchitoches and Lurline Johnson of Orange, TX; grandchildren, Lydia Sanford, Joseph Vernagallo, Charles Vernagallo, Charlotte Rasberry and Tiffany DeBenedetto; 10 great grandchildren and many nephews, nieces and close personal friends. Her nephews will serve as pallbearers.