Biography: Alta Mae McEuen Myers was born on July 9, 1926, in Searcy, AR and passed away peacefully after a long illness on October 9th, 2021. She was predeceased by her parents Mattie Louise Corbett McEuen and Raymond McEuen, her husband Thomas Benjamin Myers, a son Thomas Raymond Myers and a daughter Martha Louise Smith. She is survived by her daughter, Linda Geneva Pfeifer (Eugene), a sister Kathleen McEuen Cortese, a brother Kenneth Loye McEuen, Granddaughters Erika Allen Anderson (Scott), Alexee Allen Saunders (Ted), and grandsons Chad Houston Smith, and Scott Thomas Smith, and 6 great grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews.
When she was 9 years old, the family moved to Little Rock
A cousin, Aileen McEuen, a schoolteacher, boarded with Alta’s parents and home-schooled Alta. It enabled Alta to skip the 1st through 4th grades and enter public school in the 5th grade at age 8.
Her dad worked at National Old Line Insurance running a route to collect premiums and when he had a heat stroke, her mom ran the route. At 8 years old, Alta kept the books for them on this business.
When she was 9 years old, her Dad started the McEuen and Sprick Insurance Company with Dan Sprick who later became Mayor. The agency added casualty insurance. Both men had other jobs and were not proficient in bookkeeping or management. Alta took over this aspect of the business. To prepare herself she enrolled at LRJC (Now UA Little Rock) in a course leading to a Life Office Management Association designation, one held by only 4 other women nation-wide at the time.
As the agency grew, she had to learn about actuarial tables and how to handle the investment side of the business. This prepared her for a job at Merrill Lynch. That office did not have a broker who had passed the Series 7, a necessary license for at least one person in each brokerage office. Alta studies for this test and passed it in two weeks by studying night and day. For many years she was the designated “broker” for that office
Alta attended East Side Jr. High School and Little Rock Senior High School while continuing to work at her dad’s insurance company.
Her mom worked at a restaurant which gave her father, the idea to open their own restaurant in the Rector Building where Alta then worked part time as a cashier. While working there in 1941, future husband Tommy came in one day, and sat at the counter where he flirted with Alta. As soon as he left he told a friend “I just met the lady I am going to marry”. The lady responded, “She wouldn’t wipe her feet on you”, but Tommy persisted. There were several other young men hanging around Alta at the time and Tommy was jealously guarding his position. One day, in an effort to get back to the restaurant, he ran into an open door and broke his nose. He still “reported” back to Alta still bleeding.
Tommy had volunteered for the Army and thought he had been accepted and would be shipped out soon so he and Alta were hurriedly married by a Justice of the Peace.
Her hobbies included cooking, gardening and caring for a long list of dogs over the years. When the children were small she and Tommy would cram as many neighborhood kids into the station wagon as possible and take them to the drive in movie. She and Tommy loved to dance and they frequented many of the roadhouses that had dance floors at the time.
The family is grateful to Arkansas Hospice for professional and loving care during her final days.
Alta will be buried at Pinecrest Memorial Park in a private family ceremony and will be memorialized at a future date when the family can be gathered. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you remember Alta with a gift to Arkansas Hospice, #14 Parkstone Circle, North Little Rock, AR 72116 or Care for Animals, 5516 Kavanaugh Blvd. Little Rock, AR 72207 or your favorite charity, if you are so inclined. Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com
Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
The staff of Richards Honda Yamaha