Orville Buford Barentine, Jr. of Jacksonville, passed peacefully from this life at his home surrounded by family on Dec. 18. He was born April 10, 1936 in Cabot to the late O.B. and Emily Pruett Barentine. He graduated from North Little Rock High School and married his high school sweetheart, Peggy June, on the same day, May 27, 1955. He served his country in the United States Air Force and Arkansas National Guard for 24 years. He was assigned to the 305th Bomb Wing in Tampa, Florida and Peru, Indiana. He often spoke of his deployment in Marrakesh in Morocco, North Africa. After participating in Reforger 86 in Germany, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his leadership and was promoted to Master Sergeant E8.
He worked for North Little Rock Electric while attending evening classes at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1975. Afterwards, he worked in human resources for Entergy (formally Arkansas Power & Light) before retiring in 1989. He and Peggy enjoyed retirement in Navarre Beach, Florida for many years before returning home to Arkansas in 2012. His first priority in life was to raise his family with a strong faith in the Lord. He loved to share God’s word and often preached, taught bible classes and served as a deacon at the Rose City Church of Christ in North Little Rock. He was a member of Midway Baptist Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida and Marshall Road Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Peggy and his brother Gene Barentine. Left to cherish his memory are sons Ron Barentine and Toby Barentine of North Little Rock, and daughter Terri (George) Cobb of Cabot, three grandchildren Tyler (Audrey) Cobb of Little Rock, Emily (DJ) Wyant of Scott, and Dalissa (Garrett) Berg of Beebe. He also leaves behind 7 great grandchildren; William Barentine, Hadleigh Brown, Briar Berg, Hudson Stadther, Ty, Eli and Emery Wyant.
Funeral services will be held at Smith Funeral Home in North Little Rock on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 with visitation at 10:00am followed by a celebration of life service at 11:00am officiated by Wayne Kocourek.
Guestbook at www.SmithFamilyCares.com.
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