Ardenna Pearl Best

Ardenna Pearl Best, age 78 of Gatesville, gained her sparkly wings and jeweled crown on June 14, 2021.

Memorial service will be at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 19, 2021 at First Baptist Church in Gatesville, Texas, with Dr. David Crosby officiating. Visitation with the family will be one hour prior to the memorial service in the parlor of the church.

Ardenna was born on November 8, 1942 in Laredo, Texas to the late James and Pearl Jones. She had five children: Rene, Sam, Denise, Angela, and Daniel. She received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Central Texas College and spent her entire career taking care of others as it was truly God’s plan for her life. She served as Director of Nurses at various hospitals and long-term care facilities across Texas. She was one of the inaugural nurses that promoted LDRP in Texas. She was recruited to Georgia in the early 90’s to spearhead the reduction of their infant mortality rate and was highly successful, establishing programs to address outreach to teenage mothers and women in lower socio-economic communities and championing young childhood vaccination programs. She finished her nursing career in geriatrics, advocating for upgrades to facilities and better care of long-term patients. She understood that knowledge was power and combining it with love and compassion was her duty as a nurse. She was a faithful servant of the Lord and a member of Trinity Baptist Church.

She believed that good always existed and encouraged us to look for it first in everyone because the bad wasn’t so bad when you saw the good first. Most importantly, she recognized counting time was not as important as making time count, always making the best memories with everyone. She was an amazing mother, grandmother (Amma), friend, cousin, and nurse.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Pearl Jones.

Ardenna is survived by her five children, Rene Schoppe and husband, George; Sam Best and wife, Nancy; Denise Kleshick and husband, Jim; Angela Nickerson and husband, Curtis; Daniel Best and wife, Amy; eleven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, many more bonus kids and grandchildren, and cousins.

Memorials may be made to the “Ardenna Best Nursing Scholarship” at First National Bank, P.O. Box 659 Gatesville, TX 76528 and Coryell Community Church “All Abilities Playground” at 115 N. Levita Road, Gatesville, TX 76528.