Always wearing a smile and never one without a kind word to say, even to a stranger in public, Wanda Irene (Brock) Stroud may have led a simple life, but simple, it was anything but.
Wanda died Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at the Cave City Nursing Home after complications from Covid and pneumonia. She was 74.
A God-fearing woman who loved the color pink, Christmas and making sure others didn’t go without, whether that be of food or gift, the woman with the sweet disposition would have said her greatest achievement came in the sweltering summer of 1980 with the birth of her son, Luke LeWolfe Stroud.
He was her sunshine (a song they sang to each other) and she would have not been shy to say that every ounce of her being was lived just for him.
From a double mastectomy in the 90s after the news of breast cancer, to other physical and mental illnesses that plagued her body and mind in later years, Wanda was a fighter with a strong will.
Having married in 1971 to Larry Stroud, who she met at Arkansas Tech, Wanda thought she was marrying a guy from the big city, only to find out that Sandtown, Arkansas, wasn’t that much bigger than the mountain she grew up on near Alread, Arkansas.
A raven-haired beauty in her day, she was the oldest surviving child of 14 sons and daughters born to Leair and Sharline Brock and was as just as much a mother figure to them as she was an older sister.
Wanda often told stories of growing up on the mountain and the hard work she endured. Sometimes this included carrying multiple buckets of water to and from their homeplace and knowing how to swing an ax to carve out a path during snowy wintertime to bring those buckets inside.
She did all this while helping to care for her brothers and sisters, all of whom today have their own individual 8×10 photographs still hanging on her dining room wall so she could always see them when seated at her kitchen table.
Her life story was one of endurance, hard but full of love. Yet, her survival was almost not so when she was born premature in Senath, Missouri, on Nov. 29, 1950.
Wanda often recalled hearing stories of how her father kept her wrapped in a blanket in the palm of his hand to keep her warm during her first weeks and months of life.
Her family believes that strength helped make her the fighter and survivor she came to be, even in the worst of health. And, it’s thanks to Luke and his 24/7 care, that they believe she was able to stay in her own home for more years than her family thought possible, especially after Larry’s death in December 2020.
Although born during the golden age of Rock-n-Roll, Wanda knew firsthand what it was like to grow up with no electricity or indoor plumbing and it wasn’t until venturing off to college that she really experienced both. It’s also here, in addition to meeting her husband-to-be of 49 years, where she won trophies for her bowling skills.
Never having learned how to drive, Wanda loved writing letters and keeping diaries, which up until several years ago, she wrote in every day about everyday life: what was for breakfast, what she saw out her window from the kitchen table to how she, Luke or Larry were feeling that day.
She was a big fan of country music, especially Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, but she would tell anyone that she was the No. 1 fan of Rockin’ Luke Stroud, her piano-playing son, who she worked to promote all over the region when her health was good.
Not even 24 hours later, her absence is already felt, this 12th month of the year and the Christmas holiday she and her son so loved. But, yet, we also believe she’s now in heaven with Jesus and are relieved she is no longer in any pain or torment that the mental illness brought her for so long.
Meanwhile, we would be remiss not to include her family members, however, we want to apologize beforehand for any possible spelling errors.
Wanda is preceded in death by her parents, husband; her brothers Jesse Brock, Johnnie Brock, Curtis Brock; sister Eva Jennings, and an infant sister, Joyce.
In addition to Luke, Wanda is survived by her brothers Ilo Brock, Lonnie Brock, Cheston Brock; sisters Carlene Moore, Mary Murrell, Merlin Schoppe, Maggie Brock and Julie Lelievre, along with many other nieces, nephews, family and friends.
Arrangements are by Simply Cremation Care of Kensett, Arkansas, near Searcy. A service is not planned at this time.
Luke would like to thank the Cave City Nursing Home, staff of White River Health, Dr. Lackey Moody, Dr. Andy Davidson’s office and Witold’s Czerwinski’s psychiatry office, among others, for their many years of care.
