Neva Woolsey

Neva Woolsey, age 95, passed away on March 10, 2026, at Circle of Life Hospice in Bentonville, Arkansas. She was born on August 9, 1930, in Seminole, Oklahoma, to Ernest and Gypsy Lipe.

Neva grew up in southwest Missouri and graduated from Noel High School in 1948. As the wife of an Air Force officer, she lived in many places across the country, including Indiana, Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, and Oklahoma, before retiring to southwest Missouri in 1988. She later made her home in Bella Vista, Arkansas, in 1996 and Rogers, Arkansas, in 2020.

While raising two sons, Neva earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii in 1968 and a Master’s degree from Webster College in 1976. She worked as a sixth-grade teacher and retired as a counselor from the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing. She found joy in reading and was an active member of many book clubs, playing bridge, gardening, and entertaining friends. A lifelong member of PEO, she also cherished animals and doted on her many pets over the years. Above all, she loved spending time with her two grandchildren, Jeff and Cari.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William “Bill” Woolsey; her son, John Lewis; her brother, John Lipe; and her parents, Ernest and Gypsy. Neva is survived by her son, Phil Lewis and his wife Nancy of Rogers, Arkansas, and her grandchildren, Jeffery and Cari Lewis.