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Janice Elizabeth Garrett
Cesery
Little Rock Central
Class of 1962
Janice Elizabeth Garrett Cesery, a member of the Little Rock Central High School Class of 1962, passed away December 11, 2000. She married Albert John Cesery and moved to Australia in 1969.
The had three children, Karen, Rebecca and Annalea.
According to sketchy information supplied by the oldest daughter, Karen, Janice Elizabeth originally lived on “Route6” in Little Rock. After the death of her father in 1956, they moved closer to town where she attended Brady Elementary School.
Janice’s oldest daughter Karen is attempting to gather information on her mother and would appreciate any information or photos, remembrances, etc. that her classmates could supply. Should you have such information or articles, please email Karen at 2corinthians4.8@gmail.com.
David (Dave) Lee Starkey, 66, of Sylvania was born July 21, 1945. He joined our Lord on July 10, 2012. Dave, beloved husband of Henrietta "Etta" Wilson Starkey, was a retired sheet metal worker of 28 years with the Union Pacific Railroad. During the Vietnam War he served our country aboard the U.S.S. Stribling and was a member of the American Legion Post # 71. Dave loved the Lord, his family and music.
He was an avid drummer who traveled with the Union Pacific Rail Road Band. He was a member of
the Country Chapel Church in Sylvania and his favorite “gig” was playing the drums at church. His favorite hobby outside of music was trout fishing, especially with his sons. Dave was fun loving and loved people. Dave was preceded in death by his mother, Hazel Noble Starkey; his father, Albert Starkey, and his brothers, O.B., and Freddie Starkey.
Mr. Starkey is survived by his wife, Etta Starkey, his daughter, Kim Mullins (Ron); his sons, Robert Smith (Sherri) and Kevin Smith; his grandchildren, Brittany Smith
Walston, Amber Smith Traugh, Andrew Mullins, Allie Mullins and Collin Smith as well as three great grandchildren, Christian and Mackenzie Traugh and Chloe Walston. Dave is also survived by his sister, Rachel Hicks of San Antonio, Texas and many, many friends, especially his “beloved church family” at Country Chapel.
Funeral services were at 1:30 p.m. Friday, July 13, 2012 at Country Chapel in Sylvania with burial at Sylvania.
David Starkey, along with Buster Beardsley, served as drummer for the LRCHS Hi-Steppers
Histepper Drummer
David Starkey
LITTLE ROCK — For about 12 years, Dave Starkey was a drummer for the Union Pacific Railroad Band, which allowed him to mix his job and passion for music. “We were quite busy,” said bandmate Mel Tindle. “We traveled about every weekend from April to October or November. We worked full-time jobs on the railroad plus our time out with the band.” David Lee Starkey died Tuesday at his Sylvania home from cancer. He was 66.
As a young child, Starkey would take the opportunity when his older brother left the house to practice on his drum set “because he wasn’t supposed to touch his drums,” said his wife, Etta Starkey. Starkey was eventually caught, but his brother and bandmates were far from mad. “They were just amazed at the talent he had,” Etta Starkey said. “He just had a natural talent for it.” After serving in the U.S. Navy, Starkey played in Little Rock clubs and at area events, including
the Arkansas State Fair. He also played in recording studios and for big-name artists who rolled through town, including Grammy award-winning country artist Charlie Rich. “He enjoyed it and he said [Rich] was nice,” his wife said. “Charlie Rich was real personable with the band.”
Perhaps the most life-changing gig Starkey played was in March 1977 when he met his future wife. Both were divorced, Etta Starkey said, adding that she was meeting a date at a Little Rock club but met Starkey before the man arrived. “He asked me if there was any way I’d be willing to dump my date,” she said. She declined, but agreed to a few dance lessons before her date arrived. The next night, she went back to the club.
“He was smooth,” she said. “He said, ‘Do you have a date tonight?’ I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Well, you do now.’ [We] sat up and talked all night long. Talk about coffee-logged, whoa.” They married five months later.
For 28 years, Starkey was a sheet-metal worker and pipefitter for Union Pacific Railroad. In the early 1980s, the company held auditions in Arkansas to put together a country style band to promote the railroad. Starkey was one of the seven selected members, said Tindle, who sang and played the pedal steel guitar. “We did a lot of varieties of music: country, rock’n’ roll, blues, gospel,” Tindle said. “Dave was a great drummer. He had a knack for all types of music.” Tindle said the group flew around the U.S. performing in the railroad’s commercials and at various functions, including the world-famous Cheyenne (WY) Frontier Days rodeo.
“We’d joke with him a lot,” Tindle said. “We’d be introducing the band and I’d say, ‘Stand up Dave,’ and he’d say, ‘I am standing up.’” The first time Starkey left on a trip with the band, he left little notes for his wife in the closet, bathroom, her make-up bag, any place he knew she’d
go.“Inside the coffee can, it said ‘Good morning, I know you’re having coffee right now, I wish I was there to have one with you,’” Etta Starkey said. “[They were all] along the lines of, ‘I miss you and I love you.’”
In his retirement, Starkey enjoyed fishing trips with his children and playing drums at the Country Chapel Church in Sylvania. “He said it was his way to just give back to the Lord ... he always quoted, ‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord,’” Etta Starkey said. “Any kid who came along who wanted to tap on his drums, he’d let them.” When Starkey became increasingly ill with cancer, his wife gave him the pet-name “Fred” from the I Love Lucy show couple Fred and Ethel Mertz. “I’d tuck him into bed every night and I just wasn’t real sure if he’d wake up,” Etta Starkey said. “Every night, we’d tell each other, ‘Goodnight Fred, goodnight Ethel ... I love you Fred, I love you Ethel.’”
