N. Audrey Drake passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, on March 12, 2026. Born on July 7, 1933, in Liverpool, England, she was educated there after receiving one of only two prestigious scholarships awarded each year in the city. As the wife of a United States Air Force serviceman, she lived throughout Europe before settling with her family in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1974.
Audrey was a longtime breeder of championship Pekingese and proudly owned the number one Pekingese in the United States for several years. She also owned and showed a top-winning Maltese, reflecting her deep knowledge and dedication to purebred dogs. For nearly 25 years, she owned and operated the Animal Fair Dog Grooming shop in Fayetteville, where her passion for animals and commitment to excellence were evident to all who knew her. An intelligent woman of strong character and unwavering determination, Audrey lived life boldly and independently, on her own terms. She loved her four-legged family members deeply and devoted much of her life to their care and success.
In her final year, Audrey formed warm friendships with the caring staff at Ciel Senior Living and Mill Creek Health and Rehab, whose kindness and support brought great comfort to her and her family.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Stanley Drake Jr., her parents, Mary and Richard Price, her brothers, Edward and Richard, her son, Richard S. Drake, and her great-granddaughter, Berkleigh James Oxford. Audrey is survived by her daughters, Maryanne Drake Harbit of Charleston, South Carolina, and Janet Oxford and son-in-law Michael of Fayetteville; her grandchildren, Sheilah Rupe and husband David, Jeremy Oxford and wife Kim, Peter Oxford and wife Kate, all of Fayetteville, and Christopher and Eric Harbit of Charleston; her six great-grandchildren, Jackson and Collins Cornwell, Addyson and Mason Oxford, and McKenzie and Harper Oxford; and her remaining Pekingese, Dickens.
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