Rita Fern (Blackard) Daniel, age 88, of Clarksville, died Saturday morning August 20 in Clarksville, AR. She was born March 9, 1934 in Clarksville to the late Cecil Orlan Sr. (Bug) and Mamie Dougan Blackard. She graduated from Hartman High School in 1951 when she was 16 years old and from the College of the Ozarks with a B.S. Degree in Physical Education in 1955. She later went on to complete her Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1964.
Rita was one of eight children, and she is remembered by her siblings as always being ready to sing together with her family. She and her sisters sang in a quartet with their dad when they were young. Throughout her life, she found joy in music, ready to start spontaneous sing-alongs and encouraging relatives as they played piano or guitar at any family gathering.
Rita was hired to coach basketball and teach English at Hartman High School High School where she coached her sister, Phyllis. As a pioneer for Title IX and women’s athletics, Rita was hired in 1976 as first coach for women’s basketball and the Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Central Arkansas.
After retiring from teaching and coaching, Rita became an avid competitive tennis player, playing doubles in two divisions of USTA Team competitions – Adult and Senior. She also enjoyed performing with the Crystal Chimes Chorus, a fifty-member women’s barber shop chorus and two quartets in Hot Springs Village. A mellifluent alto, Rita loved harmonizing to anything from gospel songs and American standards to the Hallelujah chorus. She was a member of the Whitehaven Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN for thirty years, and after moving to Hot Springs Village, she joined the Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church.
Rita was preceded in death by her husband of 54 year, Charles Edward Daniel (married on February 6, 1954); three sisters and brothers-in-law, Almeta and Rex Yerby, Ann and James Dorman, Juanita and Fritz Ehren; one brother, Pat Blackard; one brother-in-law, Ben Alfred Hardgrave; one sister-in-law, Glenda Blackard; and one daughter-in-law, Jill Daniel.
She is survived by one brother, C.O., and his wife Carolyn Blackard of Clarksville; two sisters, Phyllis Sparks of New Boston, Texas and Judy Hardgrave of Clarksville, AR; one sister-in-law, Hylda Blackard of Clarksville; two sons, Dr. Robin Daniel and wife, Lynn of De Queen, AR and Tad Daniel of Memphis, TN; a daughter, Denise Baker and husband, Tim of Charleston, SC. Also, 10 grandchildren, all of whom she filled with hot chocolate while reading books and playing late-night card games: Jessica Daniel Christianson (Thor), Anna Daniel Gottfried (Chris), Charlie and Melanie Daniel, Austin Baker (Betsy), Nathan, Cameron and Keaton Baker, Hunter Daniel and Page Daniel Dobbs (Ty). Thrilled to become a great-grandmother, Rita is survived by 8 "greats": Rita and Eir Christianson, Tyler Turner, Hudson Baker, Kenzie, Camden and Christine Gottfried, and Aspen Dobbs.
Visitation is from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m., Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at the Hardwicke Chapel in Clarksville, AR.
Funeral Services are 10 a.m., Thursday, August 25, 2022 at the Hardwicke Chapel with Brother Ben Jerod Hardgrave officiating. Burial will follow at 2 p.m. at Bluffton Cemetery in Bluffton, Yell County, Arkansas. Pallbearers are Austin Baker, Nathan Baker, Cameron Baker, Keaton Baker, Hunter Daniel, and Ty Dobbs.