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Vicki Harrell was born on April 27th, 1958 in Torrance, California to Aubrey Jerral and Pauline Marie (Henderson) Lyon. Vicki moved in her childhood to several places in southern California and eventually settled with her mother in Simi Valley. Vicki graduated early from Apollo High School and pursued an education in Psychology. The birth of her son cut short Vicki’s educational aspirations, but she pursued employment in accounting and retail, both areas where she excelled in her abilities and leadership qualities leading to upper management positions at both Walmart and Dollar General. In May 1989, Vicki married Curtis Harrell in a quiet chapel in Ventura CA. They had two daughters, Autumn and Summer, and a son, CJ, who was stillborn. After the death of Vicki’s mother, the family decided to move to northwest Arkansas to be near Curtis’s family. Once there, Vicki continued in her roles in management at the Fayetteville and Pleasant Crossing Walmart stores. Vicki’s strong work ethic and selflessness eventually led to her having a heart attack on the job in 2011. She recovered with two stents in her heart and returned to work quickly. In 2013 Vicki retired to her home near War Eagle. Vicki spent her later years loving life with her immediate family. Vicki helped care for her two eldest grandchildren in her own home until they were school age. Vicki tutored her older grandson through 1st grade during COVID. She generously treated the entire extended family to a meal at a restaurant every Wednesday night for many years. Vicki drove a motor home through a hurricane to take her eldest granddaughter to Disney World. Every summer Vicki mowed 15 acres of property to make it look like a golf course. Vicki was a skilled designer of outdoor structures and created, supervised, and help build a shop, a series of connected decks, and a circular porch swing fire pit. Vicki was a creative force in other ways as well. She was a gifted pianist, an accomplished professional seamstress who made commemorative quilts for many family members and friends, a master gardener, a maker of windchimes, an expert finisher of concrete, a baker extraordinaire, a whimsical interior decorator, and a cultivator of long elegant fingernails. Mostly Vicki was a woman who loved everybody, and everybody who met Vicki loved her. Vicki was also a caring lover of all pets. She favored Siamese cats, but every mutt had a special place in her heart. Vicki was preceded in death by her mother, Pauline, her stepfather, James Brennan, her brothers Curtis Wilson and Steve Lyon, and her son CJ. Vicki is survived by her husband, Curtis, her sister Paula Flodquist, her son Shawn Brennan, her daughters Autumn (James) Chappell and Summer Taylor, her grandchildren Tyler Schwerin, Eryn Harrell, Beckett Taylor, Logan Chappell, Adelaide Chappell, and Eloise Chappell. Engraved inside her wedding band is a phrase that Vicki told her husband on their wedding day and whenever he needed comfort, and it is “I love you truly.”

Tributes

Vicki Denise Harrell

April 27, 1958 - February 22, 2026