501 Life: Greenbrier's Terry May retires from coaching

Greenbrier's Terry May retires from coaching

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens Terry May couldn’t have picked a better way to go out as Greenbrier baseball coach. May, 50, retired from coaching following the season after 26 years at the helm of the Panther program. The highlight was the 1996 Class AA state championship; his final two regular-season wins came in a 5A-West sweep of Faulkner County rival Vilonia (9-2, 3-1) in front of the biggest crowd in the history of the Greenbrier program. At a surprise retirement celebration, retiring Greenbrier Coach Terry May (left) was presented with a bat covered with photos from the ‘96 state championship run. Participating in the event were D.J. Vinacco (center) and Matt Wilcox. (Donna Spears photo) And a crowd of about 100 Panther fans — former players, parents, community members — surprised him afterward with a celebration of his career. “They did way too much, and it was awesome, really awesome,” the soft-spoken May said. “We probably had at least 30 or 35 players back; some had driven five and six hours to be here. We sat around a long time and talked about old times. It was really good seeing them all.” Becky May, the coach’s wife and a Greenbrier elementary teacher, helped plan the party. “There were a lot of older players who came back, and you’d hear young men coming up and saying things like, ‘He taught me more than baseball. He made me love the game,’” she said. “You heard the word ‘respect’ over and over again. And the camaraderie — they said you knew he cared more about you than just baseball.” May’s final team finished 14-9, third in the 5A-West, and reached the quarterfinals of the Class 5A State Tournament. But, obviously, his career has been about far more than that. May grew up in Center Ridge and was an all-state baseball and basketball player at Nemo Vista. Competitiveness came naturally. “It is in Terry to be the best at whatever he does,” Becky said. “His whole family is very competitive. Whether it is ball playing, playing cards, fishing or cooking, his uncles, aunts and siblings all want to be the best, and they want to beat you.” After his graduation in 1984, he landed a baseball scholarship to Arkansas Tech, where he played catcher. As a senior there, he earned all-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors. “After my first year of college, I knew I wanted to coach,” he said. He earned his degree in physical education and health but didn’t have a job lined up when he graduated — or for some time afterward. “I had already decided to go back to school to be a (graduate assistant) for Dale (Harpenau, Tech’s baseball coach),” May said. But in late summer, Greenbrier had an opening for head baseball and assistant basketball coach, and May was hired in August. He said he thought it was meant to be. “I was really lucky to be this close to home, just 15 miles from where I grew up, and to find a baseball job,” he said. “Back then, especially, they didn’t hire many baseball coaches. To find a job this close and at a place like Greenbrier was lucky for me.” Steve Wiedower, now an assistant for the Little Rock women’s basketball team, had been head baseball and assistant basketball coach at Greenbrier. After May was hired, they worked as each other’s assistants. “He brought such enthusiasm to the game of baseball, along with his calmness and discipline that he had with his players,” Wiedower said. “Everyone respected him and enjoyed playing for him. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with him, and he is still a great friend.” Over the years, May also spent time as assistant football coach, head junior boys basketball coach and head golf coach. “I really loved basketball, but it interfered with baseball too much,” he said. “Baseball and football work together (as a coaching assignment), but when golf was moved to the fall from the spring, a football coach couldn’t do that, so I stepped into the golf job and did that through this year.” He finished with a career baseball record of 413-210. His baseball teams won nine conference championships, reached the state tournament “20 or 21 times” and went to the semifinals “two or three times,” with the final one in 2010. At his retirement celebration, May was presented with a bat covered with photos from the ‘96 state championship run and a memory book containing photos, news clippings and well wishes documenting what his coaching career had meant to so many. From the memory book:  “Thank you for your guidance, continued support, and instilling in me what it truly means to bleed blue. Babe Ruth once said, ‘Heroes are remembered, but legends live forever.’ You will always be a legend in my book!” — Colt Harmon, Class of 2011 “Thank you for being a great coach and never taking it easy on us.” — Ryan Flake, Class of 2017 “Thank you for everything you have done and the impact you made on this town and all your past players. You’ve been one of the best coaches I’ve had and I really appreciate you and your effort.” — Hunter Russaw “Coach May, thank you for teaching me not only lessons in baseball but lessons about life, which I will take with me through the years.” — Wesley Waters “Coach May, the impact you have made on me is something I will never forget, and I wanted to thank you for that.” — Lane Herndon “Coach May doesn’t care about his winning %, TMay is about the % of players who become WINNERS!” — Dan Thornton “Thank you for allowing me to come on the journey and taking me under your wing.” — Jacob Giles, 2016 volunteer baseball coach “I am most thankful, after all these years, to call you my friend.” — Jason Miller, Class of 1991 “Thank you for setting such a great example for me to follow when I become a coach. I aspire to be a man of your character and will remember forever all you have done for me.” — Cody McKnight, Class of 2016 “Thank you for the life-long memories you have given me. Not only did you make me a better baseball player, you made me a better man as well.” — Ryan McKnight, Class of 2015 May met Becky, who teaches fifth-grade science and social studies at Eastside Elementary, during his second year at Greenbrier. She was a new teacher just out of the University of Central Arkansas. The father of one of his players, Rick Whitley (who was elementary principal) introduced them. They were married Nov. 6, 1993, and have three children: Jesse, a senior at Arkansas Tech; Jacob, a recent GHS graduate heading to UCA; and Katie Jewell, who will be a seventh grader. Becky learned early on about being a coach’s wife. “When we were first dating, Terry and his players and former players would get giddy when they were around each other — hugs, the little shoulder bumps, and the players would say things like, ‘Remember when you made me do this, Coach?’; ‘How many foul poles did you make me run for that?’ Terry started coaching at 23, so for several years, he was more like their big brother.  “But I know the feelings he has toward his boys. They’re his. I learned very quickly you did not criticize or comment negatively about his boys. He was very defensive of them. He could say it, but you were not able to say anything negative about his boys.” She said he was also good at keeping secrets — at least the negative ones. “I would tell the parents, ‘If your son did something really good, I might know it, but if your kid did anything bad, I would never know,’” she said. “After a few years, no one would pump me for information.” She said she long ago learned the essence of Terry May. “He’s always going to do what he thinks is fair for each of his players, what is fair to the game,” she said. “He’s not going to lie, not going to sugar-coat, and the best player plays. We’ve lost friendships over that, but everybody will say about Terry, if you deserve to play, you’re playing. “It doesn’t matter who you are; if you are not performing, you don’t play. And that’s how it ought to be. He’s been very consistent with that.” May, who will remain as dean of students at the junior high, said he had mixed feelings when thinking about his retirement from coaching. “It feels good in some ways, but I drove by the field the other day, and I didn’t know if I would walk out there again or not,” he said. One thing is for sure, though — he will transition into a Panther fan. “Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “Especially for these seniors I’ve had for three years. I will definitely be there to see them play in the spring.” Meanwhile, he should get some more time to hunt and fish and take family trips to the lake. “I’m sure I’ll find something to do,” he said.

501 Life: Harding professor named to World War I committee

Harding professor named to World War I committee

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens A Harding University professor has been named to Arkansas’s nine-member World War I Centennial Commemoration Committee. Dr. Shawn Fisher, 44, assistant professor of history who specializes in American history, military history and Southern history, was chosen as one of three at-large members by Gov. Asa Hutchinson after meeting the governor when Hutchinson came to the Harding campus. Harding University’s Shawn Fisher was chosen by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for the World War I Centennial Commemoration Committee. (Jeff Montgomery photo) “When they started this, I was contacted, and they wanted to know if I wanted to be part of it,” Fisher said. “I said yes, and when we got to the first meeting, they said they needed a chairman — ‘Would you do it?’ So I’m the chairman by name, but the guy doing the real work is Mark Christ (community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program).” According to a Harding press release, the committee will plan events and projects for Arkansas’s two-year commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Great War in 2017 and ‘18. “It is a great privilege to work on this project as we recognize the legacy of the Great War in Arkansas and the Arkansans who served in the war,” Fisher said in the release. “It’s a first for me, to serve on a state committee, but I’m humbled to be able to contribute.” Fisher graduated from Searcy High School in 1990 and earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1997 and a master of education degree from Harding. He taught in public schools at Bradford and White County Central before returning to Harding to teach. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Memphis in 2013. He had joined the National Guard at 17, and the GI Bill helped him become the first in his family to earn a college degree. “I have a very brief military background, and it made a big difference for me, so I have a fondness, an affinity, for the military,” Fisher said. “It’s a pleasure to be involved in this. I appreciate the governor having the faith in me to ask me to do it. I’m just trying to do a good job for the people of Arkansas for this very important historical event.” Fisher said besides the some-70,000 Arkansans who participated, WWI had a huge impact on the state. “It marked the beginning of the ROTC program in the state, and it sent a lot of Arkansas boys far away to France,” he said. “In many ways, this is the end of the Civil War and the beginning of a sort of national unity that brings the North and South together for the first time.” The Great War — the world’s first global conflict — began in Europe on July 28, 1914, and lasted until Nov. 11, 1918. The United States didn’t enter the conflict until 1917, thus the centennial commemoration is beginning next year. “Right around this time, you had the 50th anniversary of the Civil War, and people from the North and South shaking hands and their sons and grandsons going off to war under the American flag for the first time,” Fisher said. “There was resistance to the draft in Arkansas in several counties, some talk about, ‘No, I’m not going to go fight for the U.S.’ That’s just a very important part of Arkansas’s participation in a national project.” He said Arkansas lost 1,000-1,500 men in battle but several thousand more to disease, including an outbreak of swine flu following the war that killed a large number of people at Camp Pike (now Camp Robinson) in North Little Rock. Fisher said the committee’s work now was mainly planning. It is also working to coordinate various groups’ efforts to commemorate the centennial. “We will serve as a clearinghouse to make sure people are getting approval if they want to say they’re an official event at the state level,” he said. “We’ll have some requests for speakers or materials. We’re putting together books and articles for people to look at about what is Arkansas’s history during the First World War. The state historical department has put together a traveling display they’ll try to get around to all the counties. As I understand it, it’s quite nice.” Official activities will begin in January. Fisher said the committee has a logo and is working on a website, among other things. “We have a lot of resources that need to be pulled together,” he said. Other committee members include Stacy Hurst, director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage; Dr. Raymond Screws, director of the Arkansas National Guard Museum; Dr. Lisa Speer, Arkansas State Historian; Lt. Col. Matt Snead, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs; Lt. Col. Joel Lynch, public affairs officer of the Arkansas National Guard; Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas; Maj. Gen. Mark Berry, adjutant general, Arkansas National Guard; and Retired Lt. Col. Ken Griffin, military and veterans affairs officer in the Governor’s Office.

501 Life: Thornton remembered for service to 501

Thornton remembered for service to 501

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens While the April death of Ray Thornton, one of the real Renaissance men in Arkansas history, reverberated across the nation and the state, the 501 lost a native son. Thornton, a former law professor, lawyer, attorney general, United States congressman, university president and Arkansas Supreme Court justice, among other accomplishments, died April 13. At a Grant County event in 2015 in his honor, Ray Thornton and his granddaughter, Melody Woodard, hold a photo showing Ed Handy (left) and Thornton with the first Handywagon in May 1965. Thornton and Handy developed the vehicle. Woodard conducted research on her grandfather and his accomplishments for a slide presentation at the event. “I’m in awe of all the things he has done,” she said. “This is my favorite photo ever.” “The main thought I have about Ray is that while he had a nominal political career, very few people have been in the positions he’s been in, including president of two of our major universities,” said former long-time state Sen. Stanley Russ. “He was always a gentleman. I rank him right up there with our superstars — Bumpers, Pryor, Tucker — but he wasn’t as flamboyant. “He was just totally, quietly effective.” Thornton’s first tie to the 501 was his birth in Conway on July 16, 1928, in a house his father had bought for his own mother, Sally Thornton. “He paid $600 for the little house on Ash Street in Conway because she had lost, through a separation, her husband,” Thornton told Scott Lunsford of the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in an oral history for the Arkansas Memories Project. “She was selling pins and needles and other materials like that in a little cart she pushed around the city of Conway. Mother and Dad thought that she needed more, so they paid $600 for this house on Ash Street. I was born there.” His father, Raymond Hoyt Thornton Sr., had grown up on Gold Creek and was the first member of the family to go to college, graduating from Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) in the mid-1920s. He took a job as superintendent at Poyen and was, Thornton said, the first person in Grant County to have a college degree. Poyen was where Thornton Sr. met Wilma Elizabeth Stephens, who became his wife. “I think he was very smart in marrying Mother, who was also a brilliant person who later became a schoolteacher of more than 40 years’ experience,” Thornton said in the oral history interview. “So I was fortunate in that I was a child of two schoolteachers, and they didn’t have enough members in their classes, so they spent their time teaching and indoctrinating me. And without my having any idea that it was unusual, they had me reading at the age of 3. While I was that age, I would go to Prattsville (in Grant County) and read the newspaper to my grandfather (Albert Jackson Stephens).” Wilma Elizabeth Stephens was the daughter of Stephens and the sister of Witt and Jack Stephens, who went on to be considered 20th-century kingmakers of Arkansas. She did most of her collegiate work at ASTC during the summers, so young Ray spent a lot of time in Conway with the Thornton family. As a child at his grandmother’s house in Conway, Thornton choked on a banana and hard-rock candy, and the mother of Silas Snow, who went on to become president of ASTC, “ran across the street and took me by the heels and shook me until the rock candy and banana came out,” he said in the oral history interview. “So my life was saved there. Dr. Snow was always pleased that he could claim credit for his mother saving my life.” Thornton grew up mostly in Grant County, where his parents were educators. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, he attended the University of Arkansas, where he won the Navy Holloway Program Scholarship that took him to Yale University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in international relationships and engineering. He went on to study at the University of Texas Law School and the Navy School of Engineering before serving with the Pacific Fleet during the Korean War. After his service ended, he completed his law degree at the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1956. He married the former Betty Jo Mann of Sheridan (with whom he had daughters Nancy, Mary Jo and Stephanie) and moved to Little Rock to work in the legal department at Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company (Arkla), which his uncle Witt had acquired in 1954. He also worked in some of the other Stephens family businesses until making a decision to strike out on his own. “After all those good experiences, I found myself one day going over to Witt’s office and say(ing), ‘You know, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all that you’ve done for me since I’ve come to the firm,’” Thornton said in the oral history interview. “He looked at me and said, ‘Well, what is it?’ I said, ‘Well, I really want to become a candidate for public office, and I can’t ask for any better employment than you’ve given me. I’ve made a lot of money and I’m happy.’” Thornton recalled that his uncle bit on his cigar and then said, “Well, let me tell you this. If you are coming for advice, I’m glad to know you are making good money, and if it were me I know what I’d do. I’d stay right where you are and make a pot full of money, and you’ll probably have more effect on politics than you’ll ever have as a candidate. But if you decide you really want to be a candidate, then I’ll support you, and all the family will support you, as long as you don’t use your politics for making money. “Now if you want to make money, you stay right here and you’ll make a bushel basket of it. But if you go into politics, the only thing I have, or the family has, to gain is your reputation for honesty and integrity, and that isn’t the same as making a lot of money. So you think about it, and if you want to go into politics I’ll support you, and if you want to make money, stay right here.” Thornton said the conversation made him “think hard.” “(H)e had it right,” he said of his uncle. “He understood it — that going into politics is not the way to make yourself a fortune. It’s a way to do public service. I decided I wanted to go into politics, and I chose to go into a race for the attorney general.” He served one term as state attorney general in the early 1970s before being elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Fourth Congressional District for three terms. There he served on the House Judiciary Committee, which in the aftermath of the June 1972 Watergate break-ins put together draft articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon. According to Thornton’s biography in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas by Dr. Paul D. Haynie, professor of history at Harding University, “Thornton’s three articles indicted the president for abuse of power, obstruction of justice and continuing to show contempt for Congress. The substance of Thornton’s draft was approved, and the articles were immediately submitted to the full Judiciary Committee, which, after some amending, passed article one — obstruction of justice — on July 27, 1974, and the other two articles — abuse of power and contempt of Congress — by July 30. With the ‘smoking gun’ tape becoming public, as well as the upcoming vote in the House to accept the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment articles and his loss of congressional support, Nixon resigned on Aug. 9.” Thornton left the House to run for the U.S. Senate in 1978 as a Democrat against another congressman, Jim Guy Tucker, and the sitting governor, David Pryor, in what has been called “one of the classic campaigns in the history of the state,” according to Jay Barth’s biography of Pryor in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. “That was a race of three of the political giants of their time,” Russ said. “The race seesawed back and forth among all three. Ray was ahead much of the time, and then he was second, which would’ve put him in a runoff, except that Jim Guy slipped in there and got second. It was razor-close for second.”  Pryor went on to beat Tucker in the runoff, and Thornton returned to Arkansas the next year to go into higher education. As he said later, “(H)e won the Senate and I won the presidency of Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas.” Thornton was executive director of the Joint Educational Consortium of Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University before being named president of ASU in 1980 and UA in 1984. He decided on a return to politics in 1990, when he ran for U.S. representative from the Second Congressional District. “(T)here was some talk that I had chosen to move into the district in order to run,” Thornton said in the oral history interview. “We countered that pretty effectively by asking Mr. Kitchens, who owned the little house that I was born in, if we could open up the campaign there, and he said, ‘Certainly, if you’ll tell me you won’t do anything to cut my rights to use a gun for hunting.’ I agreed to that, and we had the campaign kickoff on the steps of the house where I was born in Conway. “With that, the criticism of my being an outsider seeking a district to run in kind of disappeared.” Thornton served the Second District until 1997 before being elected to an eight-year term on the Arkansas Supreme Court. Once that ended in 2005, he was the first Public Service Fellow for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He still wasn’t finished. Despite his opposition to a state-run lottery, in 2009 he became the first chairman of the Arkansas Lottery Commission. “(W)hen the people of Arkansas voted by nearly two-thirds (60 percent) to start one, I thought it was critically important to make sure that it developed the connection to scholarship and to giving deserving students an opportunity to go to higher education in Arkansas,” Thornton said during the 2011 interview. “I was told that a program properly run could develop many scholarships and would be very useful. I’ve seen in the paper recently that several students have remarked that they would not have had an opportunity to go to college except for this program.” He said he agreed to serve as chair for a while but that he didn’t want to get stuck too long in the position. “(I)t’s going to need a good steady hand to get it started,” he said. “Then it can be refined and developed into an ongoing program. I’m good to get it started because I have experience starting other enterprises.” He said the decision to hire Ernie Passailaigue from South Carolina to get the nuts and bolts of the lottery going was a good one, although Passailaigue was ultimately criticized for his high salary and eventually returned to South Carolina. “I became very convinced that Ernie could get it done and that we’d have to pay him a lot more because to get a program like that started, ordinarily you have to hire a consultant or two and pay them a half million dollars each to develop the plans,” Thornton said. “Well, all Ernie had to do was to put in place the plans he had used in South Carolina. And so it was an expensive couple of years, but it didn’t cost us as much as it would have to get one or two consultants to tell us how to do it. “So instead of waiting for someone to tell us how, we hired a manager who knew how to make it go, and Ernie did a fine job of getting it started. We have had many scholarships funded.” Thornton said in the 2011 interview that his life had been enriched by the quality of people who supported him as well as those who ran against him. “I’m happy with the opportunities I’ve had in my career,” he said. “I don’t mean to say that I’ve always got it right. But I do mean to say that I’ve always gotten it right within the scope of my vision and understanding of the issues.

501 Life: Renovations complete on UCA's McCastlain

Renovations complete on UCA's McCastlain

Thursday, 19 May 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens The completion of a dazzling renovation and restoration of McCastlain Hall continues the University of Central Arkansas’s efforts to preserve its historic buildings. Grants totaling more than $1.2 million from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (ANCRC), in addition to more than $500,000 in matching money from UCA, will make McCastlain, built in 1939, “a landmark on the campus and a significant events center,” according to the grant application. The project featured construction of the Grand Hallway, which will allow easy access between the east entrance and East Commons to the west entrance and Baum Gallery. McCastlain Hall was named for Orville Wright McCastlain of Holly Grove, a 1934 graduate of the school and a record-setting athlete. (Mike Kemp photo) The money has gone toward major renovations of the East Commons (the original dining area), restoration of the popular Fireplace Room and construction of a more accessible Grand Hallway between the East Commons and the Baum Gallery of Fine Art. “We appreciate the support of the ANCRC,” said UCA President Tom Courtway. “With this latest grant, we’ve received more than $1.7 million to continue the renovation and restoration of a couple of the original buildings on the UCA campus. These grant funds from the ANCRC, coupled with funds we’ve set aside for the restoration work, will ensure that these historic buildings are used for many years to come.” Other recent ANCRC grants at UCA have gone for renovations to Old Main Hall, including the Ida Waldran Auditorium. McCastlain Hall, the campus’ first stand-alone cafeteria, was built with economic stimulus money during the Great Depression. It was where 1,800 Women’s Army Corps members dined while on campus in 1943-44 and hosted former President Jimmy Carter during his visit in 1986. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Jan. 18, 2013. It is one of the eight buildings in UCA’s Historic District, which also includes Old Main, Ferguson Chapel, Harrin Hall, McAlister Hall, the President’s Home, Bernard Hall and Wingo Hall. According to the grant application, the project was sparked by the need for a mid-sized performance/events venue. Both Ida Waldran Auditorium and the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall on campus seat more than 1,000; Staples Auditorium at Hendrix College and the Janes H. Clark Auditorium at Conway High School are of similar size. Conway “has few appropriately-sized venues for more intimate ensemble concerts, wedding receptions or guest lectures,” according to the grant application. “Through the efficient repair and alteration for contemporary use, we intend to increase the accessibility and awareness of McCastlain’s historical, architectural and cultural features.” The project included improvements to East Commons (also known as the Ballroom), including a 1930s-styled coffered ceiling that improves acoustics; a technology upgrade; new lighting that preserves the historic look; the restoration of pine paneling to the architect’s original design; restoration of the Fireplace Room’s twin fireplaces with flanking mill work, double doors, original plaster ceiling and pine paneling; a renovation of the food service room to help workers coordinate meals for up to 400 people; a service elevator; renovated coat room; new audio/visual green room; restoration of the exterior entrance railing leading to the replication of the original front door and transom; construction of the Grand Hallway, which will allow easy access between the east entrance and East Commons to the west entrance and Baum Gallery; and restroom renovations. Offices for the College of Fine Arts and Communication (CFAC) dean’s office have also relocated to McCastlain. Terry Wright, dean, said the building had been “gorgeously restored.” “It’s very exciting for the dean’s office to be in the heart of campus since our programs are spread out from one end of the campus to the other,” he said. “The venues will open for more active events, not only in CFAC but across the campus and for interdisciplinary events in the Baum Gallery and the Ballroom.” Dr. Gayle Seymour, associate dean of CFAC, and K.C. Poole, interior design instructor, co-wrote the grants. Randy Stocks and Melissa Rodgers of Stocks-Mann Architects, PLC, were the architectural consultants. “I’m so pleased with the McCastlain renovation,” Seymour said. “I think we were able to retain the original 1939 Art Deco style and update the technology for 21st-century audiences. It’s going to be a lovely events center for the campus and community.” According to the grant application, the most recent previous renovations to the building were in 1999, when the remainder of the West Commons became an art lecture hall serving the Department of Art and the Baum Gallery. The offices of Purchasing, Registrar and Cashier then moved to the space that had previously belonged to food service. The plan for the Grand Hallway undoes “the impromptu maze of small rooms and hallways, created over time, (that) make it difficult for patrons to navigate the building,” according to the grant application. “Our goal is to create an art-filled hallway with generous proportions and seating opportunities that will make the journey through the building as pleasant as the destination rooms.”

501 Life: 'Getting to a good place'

'Getting to a good place'

Tuesday, 19 April 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens Mike Kemp photo Slowly but surely, life has gotten back to almost normal for Preston Scroggin after the April 27, 2014, tornado that forever altered his life as well as so many others in the 501. The EF-4 tornado that deadly day obliterated his home and ranch on South Marshall Road in Vilonia. Sixteen people in Pulaski, Faulkner and White counties died of tornado-related injuries from the storm, which particularly devastated Mayflower and Vilonia, and followed another deadly tornado in Vilonia in 2011. Vilonia resident Preston Scroggin continues the rebuilding after a April 27, 2014, tornado caused destruction at his home and farming operation. “Everybody’s nearly back,” said Scroggin, 49, a fifth-generation cattle rancher and former state representative, Faulkner County judge and executive director of the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission. “Time heals all wounds. We’re a lot closer than we were. “In our particular operation, we should have everything completely sewed up probably by June. We’ve got all of our equipment fixed, all seven of our barns completed and all of our fences up. We’re back handling cattle again at both the south and north farms. “But still, every time you go out and drive across, if you’re checking cattle or cutting hay, you’ll find debris, little pieces of metal, out in the fields, and we’ll pick it up.” His south farm was completely totaled — the home he’d lived in with his family as a teenager, all his fences and barns, 121 head of cattle and his “old yellow tomcat” Tom. Everything was gone — clothes, furniture, papers, family photographs and other heirlooms. Much progress was made in the first year, but the cleanup continued throughout the second. “We had lots of holes and divots from debris — heavy pieces of roof, metal roofs, cars, tractors, carport doors, anything you can imagine,” he said. “It was kind of like you took a whole bunch of people’s lives and put them in a blender and spread it out from Mayflower to the other side of Vilonia.” When he cleaned out some of the ponds on the south farm in September, the discoveries were amazing. “We found a bass boat,” he said. “We found the neck off a horse trailer that belonged to a good friend and neighbor who lives probably two-and-a-half miles southwest of our farm. That big debris cloud was coming along with the tornado with cars and whatever else, so we’ve had to fill a lot of holes where all that stuff made holes in the ground.” Recently, he was in Pine Bluff picking up a roller to continue fine-tuning the cleanup of the fields. Since leaving the Livestock and Poultry Commission after the newly elected Gov. Asa Hutchinson replaced him as executive director, Scroggin has farmed full time. His cattle now number 500-600, down slightly still in number since the storm. “One thing we had to do for our operation was, every piece of equipment that we had that we could salvage, our feed wagons, our tractors, we had to rebuild, and it was a slow process,” he said. “On the tractors, we had to put new cabs on them and fix the instrumentation, and the feed wagons had to have some things done for unloading feed.  “We’ve been like a restaurant — soft openings and then a little harder one. I had several tractors I couldn’t salvage, but we’ve been able to salvage 98 percent of our equipment. We had to weld and fabricate metal for a lot of it.” Since the tornado, he has added fruits and vegetables to his cattle business. He raised 10 acres of purple hull peas, corn, okra and tomatoes last year for the first time, selling to retailers and some wholesalers. “We’ll do that again this year,” he said. “I really enjoyed it, but I’m not going to try to do it all myself this time. I had some help, but I told them I’m not going to work that hard this year.” He said he hoped by June that he and his wife, Lori, would be moving into the new home they’ve built on the south farm.  “It’s pretty,” he said. “The grass is green, and we’ve got beautiful sunrises and sunsets. But no trees.” He said he would look into planting some trees in the next year or so.  Until then, he and his neighbors are making the most of the tragedy. “We’ve got some of the best hay baling fields in Arkansas,” he said. “We’re going to get a new Harp’s grocery store this summer. My good friend, Kieth McCord, got his service station back up and running. He’s been my friend for 30 years, and he worked out of a portable garage for two years until just recently. There’s not another service station like that in Arkansas. It’s beautiful. These are good folk and hard-working people.” He said he and Lori were planning their first post-tornado vacation they could actually enjoy for early April. “Everybody seems to be good,” he said of himself and his neighbors. “It’s the first chance for me and, I think, a lot of people to have a chance to actually look around and take stock. We’ve all been so busy the last two years, but I think we can now look and take stock.  “We’re getting to a good place. It’s not been all roses; there’s been some mental and physical turmoil, but we’re getting to a good place. We’ve all been through a lot. It takes a physical and an emotional and a mental toll. “You go through one of these, and you come out the other side — it definitely makes you more humble and more understanding of how sacred life is and how no matter — you can have all these worldly possessions and in 30 seconds they can be gone.”

Pageant to be held in Morrilton

The Conway County Fair Pageant will be held starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, in the Multi-Purpose Building at the fairgrounds in Morrilton.

Conway County Library plans Family Movie Night

As part of the ongoing Centennial Celebration at the Conway County Library, the next Family Movie Night will be 7 p.m. Friday, July 29.

MacArthur Museum plans vehicle show

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host its fourth annual vintage military vehicle show from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 30.

African heritage presentation at Faulkner Co. Library

A special event is planned 2 p.m. Friday, August 12, at the Faulkner County Library.

501 Life: Siblings recall WWII military service

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Siblings recall WWII military service

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

by Donna Lampkin Stephens A pair of siblings who did their part in helping the United States and its allies triumph in World War II — members of America’s Greatest Generation — still call the 501 home. And stories such as those of Earl (Bimbo) Bentley, 96, of Conway, and his sister, Bonell Bentley, 93, of Plumerville, are worth saving. Siblings Bonell Bentley and Earl Bentley both served in the military during World War II. (Mike Kemp photo) Two older Bentley brothers, now deceased, also served in World War II. Bob Bentley, a left waist gunner in the Army Air Corps, was shot down and captured in North Africa and taken to Germany, where he was a POW in Stalag Luft 4. Russell Bentley served in the Army in Europe. “Time is of the essence,” said Hugh Austin of Conway, a friend of Earl and Bonell. “People under 40 don’t remember anything about World War II and the war effort. It’s getting lost on that generation, and certainly for future generations, it’s important to actually have a few of these stories preserved. “They were just everyday folks who went and served their country, did their time, did their duty, then came back home and lived productive lives. They’re great Americans, and their story needs to be told.” EARL Earl Bentley was born in Russellville on June 22, 1919, the fourth child and third son among the five siblings. The Bentley family had settled in the Morrilton and Cadron park areas four decades before the Civil War — before Arkansas became a state. “Bimbo” is his childhood nickname, predating his education. “The kids in school all liked it more than ‘Earl,’” he said. “I thought my name was Bimbo.” He graduated from Morrilton High School in 1938 and headed off to Hendrix College to study chemistry. But after two years there, he was working in Memphis riveting plane parts at a former auto manufacturing plant that had converted to war plane production. He also taught aircraft riveting as part of the National Defense School’s training program. Facing the draft in 1942, he chose to enlist in the Navy Reserve in Memphis as an aviation cadet. “I wasn’t attracted to flying, and I wasn’t scared,” he said. “I wasn’t concerned about it, having never flown. I had never been in an airplane until after I was sworn in the Navy. So many are attracted to the adventure and were looking forward to it. I wasn’t. For me, it was just a job.” In 1943 and ‘44, he attended a series of seven flight and carrier schools in Georgia, Missouri and Florida. He said he learned the most in St. Petersburg under two instructors he called “the best in the world.” “One was a crop duster and one was an acrobatic civilian,” he remembered. “The crop duster stressed to control what your plane can do and what you can do. Fly like you mean it. From the acrobatic pilot, I developed some skills that made the rest of it easy — my attitude toward flying. You just felt trained and confident. I was confident about my skills and what I could do and what I couldn’t do.” By mid-1944, he had received the designation of Naval Aviator. With a 10-day leave during the summer, he married the former Sara Gordon, “she in her best blue dress and he in his dress whites,” granddaughter Gretchen Willis said, at Gordon’s family church in Morrilton. Willis said her grandfather then shipped off to the Pacific as an FM-2 Wildcat pilot as part of Composite Squadron VC-9 aboard the U.S.S. Natoma Bay, a CVE-62 escort carrier (a smaller ship that protected the convoys). He and his fellow fighter pilots flew off that escort ship. Besides combat air patrol duties, Bentley flew 20 four-hour combat missions. His one-passenger Wildcat could hold, at various times, four machine guns, rockets and light bombs. “We couldn’t carry the weight others could,” he said. “Sometimes we used that terrible napalm.” Although he was never shot down, he said his plane was crippled during some of his missions, calling it “pretty scary.” Willis, his granddaughter, said he completed all of his missions, for which he received an air medal, two gold stars and the Distinguished Flying Cross, “many of which were part of the invasion of Okinawa and were subject to Kamikaze attacks,” Willis said. He still has photographs of some of the damage done to U.S. equipment by the Kamikazes. The Battle of Okinawa involved preparations for a planned invasion of mainland Japan. Those plans were scuttled after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, effectively ending the war. “There were a bunch of battles in ‘45 prior to them dropping the bomb where they were trying to take out all of these Japanese bases in preparation for what they thought was going to have to be,” Bentley’s daughter, Lyn Willis, said. “What a traumatic experience that was.” Bentley was released from active duty on Oct. 30, 1945. He returned to his family — ultimately Sara, daughter Lyn and son George — in Arkansas and worked as a deputy U.S. marshal in Little Rock in 1946-47 before going home to Morrilton, where he began a career with the postal service in 1947. He retired there as postmaster in 1978. BONELL Bonell Bentley was born in Russellville on Nov. 8, 1922, the youngest of the five siblings. She, too, grew up in Morrilton, where their father was a butcher, and finished high school there in 1941, the year their father died. Their mother had died several years earlier. “I went to my sister’s house in Morrilton and became part of her family,” she said of her post-graduation life, referring to the eldest sibling, who was 15 years older. “Then I worked in a defense plant in Memphis. I didn’t work there long until I decided to go into the Navy.” She said she made her decision for a practical reason. “I thought it would be a way of releasing a man to go and fight,” she said. “I didn’t have anything better to do.” There she was a member of the WAVES — a division of the U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women. She was a Seaman First Class from Dec. 22, 1943, until July 30, 1946. “I believed in my country,” she said of her WWII service. “I would fight for my flag then. That’s been so long ago, though, that I don’t really remember the feelings of World War II. I know it was strange, different. There’s really no way to compare then with now.” After her discharge in Hawaii, she trained as a nurse on the G.I. Bill and also spent some time as a government employee (billet manager) in Japan.  “Heck, nurses have to work too hard,” she said. “I got in the operating room and the anesthetist was sitting at the head of the table saying, ‘You do this; you do that.’ I said, ‘Who is that? That’s what I want to be.’” She said she didn’t have money for school, so she joined the Army on April 16, 1951, and was eventually approved for anesthesia school. She was discharged on June 10, 1957, and then spent about 30 years working for Veterans Administration hospitals in Little Rock and Jackson, Miss. Following her Army retirement, she worked for years as a nurse anesthetist at the Morrilton hospital. She never married. “I never found anyone that’s No. 1 to me, and I never found anyone who wanted me to be No. 1 for them,” she said. “When that’s the case, it’s just better to be by yourself.” Independent until just a few years ago, she drove regularly to Conway for a weekly women’s Bible Study Fellowship at First Baptist Church and to services at Woodland Heights Baptist Church. She lamented, though, that age and declining health were catching up to her. “I don’t do things very long if I don’t enjoy them,” she said. “Life’s kind of short as long as it is. Once I was having a bad day, and I said, ‘Oh Lord, how long are you going to keep me down here?’ I heard this voice and it said, ‘112’. So who knows — I may still be here at 112.”  Earl laughed when told that story. “She talks to the Lord regularly,” he said, chuckling. “I’d like to sit in on some of those conversations.”