Ernestine Elizabeth Stake, 92, was taken by a sudden illness and passed away shortly thereafter on Friday, July 10, 2020.

Born and raised in the wake of the Great Depression, Ernie was cut from a tougher cloth than most. In the 1940’s she left behind her hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas and made her way to the west coast to work as a switchboard operator in the heart of Los Angeles, California. There she made a life for herself and her six children, supporting them by working long shifts at the Arden Farms ice cream factory.

At the age of fifty, an age when most start counting down the days till retirement, Ernie used her savings to begin a brand new career in cosmetology and opened her very own beauty salon in a small suburb of the bustling city.

Ernie had more than earned her rest by the time she turned sixty-five when she decided to close up shop and move north to Fort Mohave, AZ, where she became a long-term resident of almost thirty years. Her golden years were peaceful, with days spent cruising to the casinos with one hand on the wheel and the other clutching her bingo bag.

We take comfort in knowing Ernie is in heaven and reunited with her two sons, William Jay Christiansen and Dean Robert Edmonds, sons-in-law, Richard Walters and Michael McDowell, and brother, Floyd Dean Caldwell.

She is survived by her sisters, Betty Filla and Joan Sprinkle, sister-in-law Catalina Caldwell, children, Michael Edmonds, and his wife Lou Ann, Denise Walters, Bryan Stake, Stacey McDowell, and Timothy Stake and his husband Jayson Rivest, and her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ernestine Stake, we will miss you always and are blessed to have had you as long as we did.