Dewey D. Long

Dewey Long, the last surviving son of Herschel Norman and Thelma Minnie (Reavis) Long, left this earth April 19, 2024.  Dewey was a spontaneous story-teller who shared many great memories of life with his parents and brothers P.L., Deward, Rocky and Leo throughout his life that began in Kellyville, OK August 14, 1934.  His family moved between OK, AR, and CA.  Dewey and his brothers attended several different schools and he didn’t like any of them.  He was happy to go to work with his dad and brothers at the sawmill as a teenager.  Just a few days before his death, he was asked what he enjoyed most during his life and his answer was, “Work.”  

At the ripe old age of 17, he and Ermalee Deckard were married in Drasco on November 15, 1951.  They soon moved to CA where he worked on a farm.  A brain cramp (his) led him and Ermalee to leave higher pay and sunny California for the farm country in Michigan where they woke up to frost inside their tiny home and peach tree trimming in the snow. Only son Audie was born in Watervliet.  In early 1959, they loaded the Ford and moved back home, Dewey joined many local men building Greers Ferry Dam.  The rest of his working life included pipelining, pouring concrete, installing pumps, killing bugs, installing septic tanks, keeping water and sewer flowing on Eden Isle, and keeping the equipment working for First Electric.  He always attended retiree meetings at First Electric and continued to express appreciation for how he was cared for in retirement.

Dewey did more than work at his job and on the family’s 20 acres in Ida.  There were important ball games to coach and support throughout the year, and lots of family and Ida community gatherings.  He and Ermalee were there!  Dewey and Ermalee got into Pleasant Ridge General Baptist Church with all four feet in the mid 1970s and were very supportive of the church and their son’s beginnings in ministry.  

Ermalee died July 7, 1988 after a long struggle with cancer.  With the support of family, community, and church, Dewey kept on going, but he really got going again when he met Carolyn Oxford.  They were married May 12, 1990 and lived well until his death.  He happily joined the church Carolyn was a part of, First United Methodist, and they loved being in the big middle of the Pairs and Spares Class as long as they were able.  They hosted lots of church and family groups at their home where you could see a beautiful view of the lake and watch the only traffic light in Heber Springs change from red to green.

In retirement, Dewey and Carolyn traveled from Alabama to Alaska and spent time in many other states in this great land.  He was up for going anywhere Carolyn wanted to go as long as he could drive.  Dewey didn’t do airplanes. He continued to work part-time around the area for his spending money.  He also found lots of coins, some gold, jewelry and metal junk with his prized White Spectrums, which he passed on to his eldest great-grandson, Damien.  His well-used tools were given to his two grandsons, Laken and Lex, and unusual coins to his other four great-grandsons, Parker, Noah, Preston and Maddox.  Girls are not born in Dewey’s family, but they do marry in.  He loved and treated daughter-in-law Sharon and granddaughters-in-law Lindsey and Jessica every bit as well as all his boys.  And, he got a real later-in-life daughter in Jenny, Carolyn’s daughter, who has loved and cared so well for Dewey and Carolyn for the past few years.  Jenny continues to provide the best possible care for her mom.

At age 60, Dewey told his son, “When I die I just want somebody to say, ‘He had a good life.’”  By the time he was 89 and receiving hospice care, he told everyone who came in, whether he had ever met them or not, how blessed he is and what a GREAT life he has had.  He began to hear and see voices and visions of heaven two days before his death.  He had big smiles when he described what and who he was seeing.  The day before his body died, he said of heaven “It’s beautiful” twice, and was getting brighter and brighter. He told those surrounding him bye-bye, and said he was going to turn out the lights.  In the afternoon of April 19th, Dewey got all the lights turned out and moved on to the Light.

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