Dural Lewis Culbreath

Dural Lewis “Pepaw” Culbreath, 81, of Paragould, lived in Jonesboro most of his life until moving to Paragould 10 years ago. He was born in Lake City, Arkansas on July 5, 1945, to Earl Lewis Culbreath and Pearl Mae Hoke Culbreath. He married Dailene Hawkins on December 7, 1962, and were married for 47 years, until her death in August 2009. Their first son, Tim, was born three years later and their second son, Blake, was born five years after that. Dural served his country in the Arkansas Army National Guard for seven years, leaving with the rank of Sergeant E5. He became a member of the Free and Accepted Mason of Arkansas in 1969, serving as Worshipful Master of the Nettleton Lodge #657 in 1974, and again in 2015. He also served as Lodge Secretary for three years after that. He started his work career in October 1965, working for Southwestern Bell and later AT & T before retiring in 2001, from the engineering department. He was a member of the Fairview Baptist Church in Paragould and had served as a deacon for many years. He was an avid poker player and had played with many named individuals and his skills were renowned. An accomplishment sportsman, he enjoyed collecting and shooting many types of weapons. He volunteered at the men’s prison in Newport for over three and a half years, working for the chaplain in a specialty program called “Principles and Applications for Life” or PAL Program. In addition to his parents, and his wife, he was preceded in death by two great granddaughters, Emerald Ogden and Lakelyn Rose.

Survivors include his sons, Tim Culbreath (Lisa Hinton) of Paragould and Blake Culbreath and his wife, Dr. Sara Culbreath; sister, Jackie Hood of Jonesboro; grandchildren, Kassi Ogden (Nathan), Christian Byrd (Mark), Brenna Zaharopolos (Chris), Kailyn Locke (Corey), Cainan Culbreath (Lilly), Dayli Culbreath; and eight great grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life service will be at 6:00 P.M., on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at Emerson Memorial Chapel with Stand Ballard and Dennis Strope officiating and Emerson Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Visitation will be from 5:00 until service time. Burial will follow on Friday, August 7, 2026, at Jonesboro Memorial Park Cemetery with Tim Cook, Cainan Culbreath, Corye Locke, Mark Byrd, Nathan Ogden, and Jim Hawkins serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers and past and present employees of Southwestern Bell and A T & T. To sign an online guestbook, go to emersonfuneralhome.com.