Mr. James Wesley “Jake” Provence of Tuckerman, Arkansas, departed this life on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, at the age of 76. He was born November 8, 1947, in Newport, the son of Wesley Earl and Mary Violet (Runsick) Provence.
Throughout his life, Jake conquered numerous obstacles and demonstrated great perseverance. He contracted polio when he was 18 months old. One of the earliest cases of polio in Arkansas, he spent the following 9 years in and out of hospitals, undergoing multiple surgeries on his legs and eyes. When he began attending school, he had to wear leg braces. Despite this, Jake would defiantly take off the braces as soon as he got on the school bus and put them back on before his mother could see him after school.
Jake’s spirit was enduring. In 1966, during his sophomore year at Arkansas State University, he was involved in an automobile accident that left him in a coma for 13 days. When he awakened, he was quite different from the Jake his family and friends had known. Nevertheless, he never lost his sense of adventure and his desire to learn about the world around him.
Jake was an avid reader who particularly enjoyed the works of Louis L’Amour and James Patterson. He liked reading and writing poetry, watching westerns on television, and was a wealth of information. Jake especially loved music and had a vast knowledge of music and musicians.
He had a great sense of humor, with a sharp, sarcastic wit, and he never met a stranger. Jake would weave the best stories, leaving it up to you to decide if they were truth or fiction. He loved to wander and led a nomadic sort of life, always ending up right back in his hometown of Tuckerman. He adored animals, especially his dogs, Gypsy and Shadow. Jake loved his family and was especially proud of his nieces and nephews, and their accomplishments.
Jake spent the last 2 years at the Blossoms in Newport, where he entertained the staff daily with his larger-than-life personality.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Wesley and Violet Provence; one sister, Glenna Smart; one great-nephew, Michael Wesley Cowell; and one sister-in-law, Annabelle Provence.
Jake is survived by one brother, Billy Provence of LaPlace, Louisiana; one sister, Sandra Provence of Tuckerman, Arkansas; one brother-in-law, JW Smart; his nieces and nephews, Van Provence and wife, Katy, Paul Provence and wife, Leslie, Rob Provence, Becky Smart Hamilton, Jennifer Dilday and husband, Jeff, and Samantha Anderson and husband, Gray; his great-nieces and nephews, Sara Hamilton, Paul Hamilton, Loren Provence, Hannah Dilday, Claire Dilday, Emily Provence, Will Provence, and Maggie Anderson; and a lifetime of friends.
Memorial services will be Friday, August 23, 2024, at Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home Chapel. Friends may visit with the family following the service.
