Oralee Cearley

Funeral services for Oralee Cearley, 93, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  

Mrs. Cearley passed away at 7:08 a.m., Thursday, April 28, 2022, at her home.  

She was born May 14, 1928, at Grimmett, Missouri, to Hobart Brixey and Mona Burgin Brixey.  Oralee attended school at Turner, Hopkins and Star Schools in the community of Grimmet, Missouri.  On March 14, 1946, she was married at Olathe, Kansas, to Nova Cearley, who preceded her in death on May 13, 2008.  When she was a young woman she worked at Safeway in Kansas City and after she was married she was a home maker.  Mrs. Cearley loved to garden and can and enjoyed flowers.  She was a great cook and was well known for her pies, cookies, cinnamon rolls and wild grape jelly.  She baked a special cake or pie when it was anyone’s birthday and enjoyed baking and cooking for neighbors and friends.  Most of all, she loved her family and enjoyed watching her grandkids and great-grandkids play baseball and basketball.  Mrs. Cearley was of the Baptist faith. 

She is survived by two daughters, Barbara Ledford and husband, Jim, Viola, Arkansas and Carolyn Hoover, West Plains, Missouri; three grandchildren, Brian Hoover, Christy Hoover and Adam Ledford; six great-grandchildren, Marcus, Tanner and Colby Hoover, Brett and Mason Wilbanks and Levi Ledford; one sister-in-law, Agnes Brixey; and several nieces and nephews .

Her parents, husband, one daughter, Sharon Dollins, three sisters and three brothers, preceded her in death.  

Mrs. Cearley will lie in state from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m., Monday at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Visitation will be held from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Burial will be in the Howell Memorial Park Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital or Cystic Fibrosis Association of West Plains and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 West Main, West Plains, MO  65775.