CLARITA P. WARD

DECATUR, Ark.- Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada, Mo., for Clarita Pelino Ward, 95, formerly of Sheldon, Mo., who died Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, at her home in Decatur. Interment will follow at 1:30 p.m., in the National Cemetery in Ft. Scott, Kan.

The family will receive friends at 10 a.m., prior to the service at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, in care of the funeral home.

The obituary may be viewed and condolences sent online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com.

Survivors include her children, Alfredo Perez and wife Donna, Prairie Village, Kan., Harrison Ward, Jr. and Lee Ann, Rogers, Carl Ward, Nevada, Betty Hedman, Smicksburg, Penn., Frank Ward, Rogers and Mary Hickson and husband Rick, Decatur; siblings, Jesus Pelino and Angelito Pelino, Philippines, Purita Tolentino, Montreal, Canada and Virginia Garcia, Morganton, N.C.; 15 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; special friend and caretaker, Patsy Hickson, of the home and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by two sons, Albert Ward and Bob Ward; three brothers, Cesar Pelino, Salvador Pelino and Enrique Pelino and two sisters, Elena Trinidad and Isabel Belependio.

Mrs. Ward was born June 10, 1922, in San Juan, Rizal, Philippines, to Angel Pelino and Josefa Babida.

The oldest of 10 children, she was reared in the Philippines and attended school there. She was united in marriage to Loretto Perez, who died in 1942 during the Japanese Invasion. She and her family became refugees during WWII and she later began working at Clark Air Force Base, where she met Harrison P. Ward. On Feb. 2, 1946, they were married in Manila, Philippines and he preceded her in death on Sept. 18, 1985. Following his time in the service they moved to Sacramento, Calif. in 1948 and lived there until 1959, when they came to Sheldon, Mo. She had worked at Nevada State Hospital for more than 30 years until her retirement. For the past 20 years she has resided in Decatur to be near her family. She was a member of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Bella Vista.