| Gordon Brown Sr | Ruby Allen | Wade Benjamin Banks | John Harold Reeves | Raymond William Jones |
Brought up in a farming family that moved all the way from Asheville, NC to Arkansas for farming opportunities, Gordon Brown Sr. aimed to do more than just till a few hundred acres of land himself.
He wanted to find ways to somehow sustain farm life during the unpredictability of weather, insects and disease.
Mr. Brown was on the board of Lonoke County Farm Bureau, Arkansas State Farm Bureau and the former Lonoke Federal Land Bank Association.
He was also instrumental in organizing the First Electric Co-op Corp. in Jacksonville which now has offices in Stuttgart, Perryville, Heber Springs and Benton.
Brown, a lifelong farmer and advocate for other farmers, died Feb. 28. He was 94.
He had moved to Scott when he was 1 and never left, family members say. His parents Hugh Torrance and Grace Scott Brown had made the trip from Ashville to manage the plantation of Charles Alexander, said his daughter, Ann Brown Harton.
And farming, the local general store, which they managed for awhile, and church were their life, family members note.
When Mr. Brown was 3 his family had been among the founding member of All Souls Church in Scott, and the church would become an important part of his life, retiring from the board of trustees at age 75 and earning the title of trustee emeritus.
"Dad was a person who was very involved with his church," said his son Gordon Brown Jr. "He worked in every aspect."
When Mr. Brown's father was running the general store, which is now the Plantation Museum in Scott, the patriarch of the Dortch family died and that plantation was split up.
Mr. Brown's father bought part of the plantation in the late 1920s and it has since grown to about 550 acres.
"He grew cotton, soybeans, corn, wheat and oats," Brown said. "He was a diversified farmer. "But when it came time to pass the torch, Mr. Brown wanted to do more than just maintain the farm, he wanted to make sure he and other farmers would have a farm to pass onto their children, family members said, especially after the Central Arkansas flood of the 1920s which wiped out many Arkansas farmers.
After graduating from the local schools in Scott, Mr. Brown went off to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, to earn a bachelor's degree in agriculture. From then on Mr. Brown was instrumental in activities used to sustain farmers through hard times.
"I think he just was involved because it was important for farmers to own their own electricity and have insurance rates they could afford.
In 1930, years after he had graduated from college, he married Lillian Brown who had come from Illinois to attend Arkansas State Teachers College, or UCA.
She was a third grade teacher in Scott who attended the same church and lived nearby in the teacherage" where the singer teachers roomed with the principal and his family.
The two were married for 51 years until her death in 1981.
From then on his life was dedicated to his family and creating a farming legacy that still exists today.
He was a board member of farm bureaus and land banks in the area, helped start the Production Credit Association as well as the Rural Electrification Association for farmers in the area.
For his dedication to sustaining agriculture in Arkansas, Mr. Brown was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1990.
Up until a few years ago, his son said, Mr. Brown still tended a few cattle on the farm although the majority of the farm management went to his family and others.
But Harton said her father was also still active on various boards, committed as ever to staying involved in the community and industry he loved.
Mr. Brown was preceded in death by his wife, Lillian C. Brown and grandson, Kelly R. Brown.
He was also survived by three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Chapel of Griffin Leggett-Rest Hills Funeral Home with Revs. Ben Jordan and Otis Chapman officiating.
The family requests that memorials be made to the Gordon R. Brown Scholarship Fund c/o Lonoke County Farm Bureau, P.O. Box 920, Lonoke, Ark. 72086 or All Souls Church c/o Carolyn Moore, 13519 Highway 70, North Little Rock, Ark. 72117.;
The Times - March 5, 1998
RUBY ALLEN
Ruby Allen's Christian upbringing laid the groundwork for her life dedicated to helping her fellow man through teaching and volunteer work.
She taught in Sunday School and public schools for more than 30 years while volunteering to help the needy and the relatives of the seriously ill.
"We were so blessed that was part of what we did was help others," Mary Nell Hand, 55, said of the values her mother passed on to her.
Her dedication to teaching Sunday School at Central Baptist Church resulted in that institution naming theirs after her.
Mrs. Allen passed away Dec. 19 of adult respiratory illness; she was 79.
Raised on a farm in Linden, Tex., she was the second to the youngest of seven children. Her parents, Harris and Sally Cloninger, grew vegetables and had enough chickens, cows and pigs to feed their family and sell the extra.
The Cloningers instilled the values of hard work in their children, with father Harris having to start over after their family lost their money, which they had kept in a Confederate bank, when the Confederacy lost the Civil War. The seven Cloninger children performed chores on the farm.
They were also instilled with the value of helping their fellow man through their Christian upbringing and the value of an education.
Four siblings-including Mrs. Allen, who attended college in the East-ended up with teaching degrees.
She and another teacher rented a house outside of Linden to be closer to the school house and ended up five blocks from her future husband, Odis Dale Allen, in Queen City, Tex.
They courted for a least a year before marrying one day after her 21st birthday, on Nov. 10, 1939. They remained married for 33 years until his death in 1972. Daughter Hand would be their only child.
Mr. Allen worked in the oil fields in Louisiana until his brother told him they were hiring at Missouri Pacific Railroad in North Little Rock.
When Mrs. Allen arrived, she was already pregnant with Hand, who was born in 1942, and did not go back to teaching until their daughter was five years old.
She worked as a substitute for one year then took a permanent position in 1949 at Rose City Elementary teaching sixth grade; she later taught at Crestwood Elementary before retiring after more than 30 years of teaching in North Little Rock.
She taught Sunday School for just as many years and her dedication to the Central Baptist Church Sunday School Department resulted in it being named in her honor.
Hand said Mrs. Allen was a member of the church "before I was even born."
For almost 18 years, Mrs. Allen worked as a volunteer at Baptist Memorial Hospital's Acute Care Unit, comforting relatives of patients. She was also instrumental in training other volunteers.
"While she was in the hospital, a couple of them said "She taught me everything I know," Hand said.
She also helped out at the Caring Center of North Pulaski Baptist Association, where they help pass out food and clothing to the needy.
"She was helping others and mother had a great love for her fellow man," Hand said.
She still found time for her garden and yard where "she enjoyed the flowers and nature" and knowing that her work even helped the birds, her daughter said.
The Times - December 25, 1997
Those who knew Wade Benjamin Banks, North Little Rock elder emeritus of the African Methodist Episcopal church, will remember him as a strong leader.
Yet, his wish was to be remembered as a servant, family members say.
"His motto was 'I want to be remembered as someone who always tried to do good.'" recalled his son Wade.
Mr. Banks died Sunday, Oct. 18, following hospitalization for an intestinal obstruction. He was 92.
In September 1957, he bravely accompanied six black students and three other ministers in an attempt to integrate then all-white North Little Rock High School. They were stopped by a screaming mob of people, and though they never received the recognition that has been given to the Little Rock Nine, they did help in the cause of civil rights.
From his boyhood on a Mississippi farm to his adult years as a father of five sons and full-time minister, his life was distinguished by his natural leadership qualities, family members say.
"He will be remembered as an excellent father, an absolutely perfect family man, a great example to family and the community, who will be sorely missed," said son Walter of Oakland, Calif.
Nearly 350 friends, family and community members paid tribute to his life at his memorial service Oct. 23 at Bethel A.M.E. Church in North Little Rock.
Born in 1906, Mr. Banks was the youngest son and one of eight children yet he "set the standard for his siblings. They looked to him for his advice and guidance," his son Walter said.
His early years were typical for farm children of that era. Farm work came first, so school attendance was sporadic, sometimes as little as three months a year.
"But he was smart and began to self-educate at an early age," his son said. "He loved to read and encouraged all us sons to read."
The decision to go to seminary followed logically from his upbringing in the church, said his wife of 70 years, Rosie Mae Banks. "He just wanted to keep going forward in his life spiritually," she said.
But finding the means for a college education wasn't easy.
As a teenager, Mr. Banks had moved to Arkansas with his siblings and mother, by then single who was faced with supporting the family. But through her sacrifice and hard work, Mr. Banks attended Shorter College.
In 1926, at age 20, he was certified to preach by an elder of the A.M.E. church and began a ministry that continued until his death.
It was on a visit back to Mississippi the next year to visit his sister, that Mr. Banks met his future wife, Rosie Mae Weatherspoon, and the couple married in 1928.
As is the custom for A.M.E. pastors, Mr. Banks relocated every few years, thus pastoring churches in five Arkansas towns before settling with his family in North Little Rock in 1948, when he was appointed presiding elder of 13 churches.
He was "an excellent administrator with a great love for people, a person touch" and a profound proclaimer of the Word," recalled the Rev. T.B. Lamb, minister of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Little Rock.
Until his retirement in 1976, Mr. Banks balanced demands of the ministry and family, traveling frequently throughout the state, while rearing five sons.
He was serious about life and his work, but he also made time for his favorite pastimes, which included gardening, hunting and fishing. He had a knack for tuning a small plot of land into a bountiful garden, yielding a variety of vegetables, including sweet potatoes, peppers and okra to feed his growing family, his wife and sons said.
Hunting and fishing kept food on the table even during lean Depression times, and Mr. Banks delighted in sharing his abundance-from his garden or frequent fishing trips-with his neighbors.
After his boys were grown and had moved away, one of his "greatest joys was to have all us boys come home for a big fish fry," said his son Wade, a retired YMCA director.
But even after he retired, his "favorite hobby was teaching and preaching," recalled his son Walter.
He became an associate minister of Lee Chapel A.M.E. Church of North Little Rock, continuing to give sermons, visit area churches and conduct funeral services until his death, ever conveying his upbeat, positive outlook to others, family members said.
"One of his favorite sayings was "Life is not a bed of roses but a challenge to be met with determination and good spirits," his son Wade recalled.
He was preceded in death by his son Otis. Besides his wife, Rosie Mae Banks, he is survived by four sons and four daughter-in-law-Wade and Blanche Banks of Overland Park, Kan., Isaac and Ruth Banks of Seattle, Wash., Hollis and Janice Banks of Inglewood, Calif.; Walter Banks of Oakland, Calif.; daughter-in-law Bacquelyn Banks of North Little Rock; sister and brother-in-law, Iniece and Darnell Brown of Bell City, Mich.; sister Willie Lee Burton of Toledo, Ohio, Two brothers--Louis Banks of Chicago, Ill. and Eugene Banks of Detroit, Mich.; 15 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Interment was in Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock.
The Times - Oct. 29, 1998
JOHN HAROLD REEVES
John Harold Reeves, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel with a delightful yet self-deprecating sense of humor who owned a clothing discount store in Levy for more than a decade, died Wednesday, Oct. 14, following a lengthy illness and a stroke. He was 79 years old.
A native of Conway, the son of a federal probation officer for the Eastern District of Arkansas and a housewife, he was a 1940 graduate of North Little Rock High School who put off marrying his high school sweetheart, Virginia Walker Reeves, until after his return from service in World War II. Theirs would be a marriage that would last for 53 years despite his endless and hilarious fun poking, often for the sheer fun of watching the reaction he could muster from other people.
"He carried around a picture in his billfold that he referred as the world's ugliest woman," said his wife Virginia. "He'd pull it out on the unsuspecting and say "Here's a picture of my wife." Then he'd wait for a reaction and if the victim laughed or cringed he'd make a big deal out of it or say "Well that's what she looked like before I met her." He had a terrific sense of humor. He was the only person I've known who would make a fool of himself just to make people laugh."
He attended the University of Arkansas and was at Arkansas State Teachers College (now UCA) when he was called into active duty. A proficient pilot, he would serve as a flight instructor at Eagle Pass, Lubbock, Wichita Falls and Randolph Field, Texas.
After the war, he joined the Arkansas National Guard with the 154th Fighter Squadron, then was called back into active duty to serve in Korea and Japan.
Because of his flight experience he was assigned to the VIP Squadron and routinely flew around any congressional dignitaries who wanted to visit the war zone. He returned home as the co-pilot of Gen. Mathew Ridgeway, whom he visited with on his flight home, where he rejoined the National Guard as a supply officer until his retirement in 1979.
During this time he opened Reeves' Outlet Store, a retail discount clothing store on MacArthur Drive, which he operated successfully until 1990.
His health had been deteriorating in recent years, following a stroke in the mid 1980s, his wife said. But his funeral was a celebration of a man who enjoyed life and loved to laugh. And cards and letters to his widow also told of his kind and generous side.
She never knew it, his wife said, but a woman wrote to tell her how at the end of each season, Mr. Reeves would "load her car with clothes form the Outlet Store" so it could all go to the children's colony in Arkadelphia.
Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Sharon (Shay) and Steve Freeman of Little Rock and Pat and Randy Herlocker of North Little Rock; five grandchildren Ginny, Jill and Clay Freeman and Ross and Leslie Herlocker, a sister, Anna Oakes of Little Rock; and a brother, Col. Herbert Reeves of Platsmouth, Neb.
Funeral services were held Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Roller-Owens Chapel with interment at Rest Hills.
The family requests that memorials be made to Fellowship Bible Church of North Little Rock.
The Times - Oct. 29, 1998
Raymond W. Jones may never have actually put it this way. But clutching that long wooden plank with about 15 other Air Force comrades in the oil-covered and shark-infested waters off the coast of Fiji that day in November, 1943, he was not at all sure he would live the next 35 hours let alone the next 55 years.
On a troop ship bound for the Philippines, he was among the nearly 1,500 member of the First Fighter Control Squadron and 85th Fighter Wing on a mission to set up fighter control communications centers on several Pacific islands when their ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
Eight hundred miles from help, his vessel rapidly sinking, the captain had ordered the men to abandon ship, and 70 would lose their lives waiting for the destroyer that finally pulled the others from the stormy sea.
A Purple Heart was their reward, but unlike most Purple Heart recipients who were sent home after their injuries, Jones and his squadron were treated for exhaustion and exposure, then sent off to the islands to do the job they were sent there to do.
And the work ethic and optimism implied in that Air Force expectation of him as a corporal would stay with Raymond Jones forever.
Mr. Jones, who went on to become a licensed land surveyor and 37-year resident engineer and cost estimator for the Arkansas Highway Department died Sunday, Feb. 15, after a series of strokes that were compounded by vasculitis.
A dozen years ago, at a reunion of the First Fighter Control Squadron, Mr. Jones was reunited with some of the men who shared those lonely hours in the Pacific Ocean with him, and he stayed in touch with them ever after.
"I guess we wondered if we would be found at all," he told a student who interviewed him a year ago.
Born in Bald Knob, one of six children of a cobbler who also served as mayor of that town for a time, Mr. Jones took a job after high school at the Kroger store in Searcy, where he met his wife Bobbi before he went off to war.
He was staying at a boarding house a few doors away, and she and some friends had been invited over for an evening of music, she recalled. The next day she was in the beauty shop beside the Kroger store, and he waited outside and offered to walk her home.
They were married in 1945, shortly after he was shipped home. It lasted 52 years.
He got a job with the Highway Department and the couple would settle in Levy and start their family of two daughters and one son.
But to support his family and eventually move them to Park Hill, Mr. Jones would often moonlight as a land surveyor and take his son Keith along to hold the dumb end of the tape," his son recalls.
Small wonder Keith Jones, now executive director of the Central Arkansas Transit Authority would follow his father's footsteps and become an engineer, even work at the highway department for eight years before his dad retired.
"I didn't expect that." Keith said.
But family was always a priority for his dad, Keith said, so weekends of relaxation when he was growing up were mostly spent with relatives in Bald Knob and Searcy. But now and then father and son would also head to Lake Conway and to bring in a little bass or bream.
After retirement, Mr. Jones continued to stay with his profession by working with FEMA doing estimates out of state of storm damage and such, and taking his wife along for the journey.
The two also bought a cottage in Greers Ferry that would become a place of fond memories for their children and grandchildren.
"He let all the grandkids steer the boat," his granddaughter Margo Jones recalled.
"At night we would make a fire and roast marshmallows," recalled his granddaughter Meridith Phillips.
"[He] used to do bird calls, and I would mimic," said his granddaughter Kristin Jones.
"It seemed like everything he did was for his grandchildren, and he did it with a smile. That is why he had so many friends, because he always smiled," said his grandson Brian Phillips.
Mr. Jones is survived by his wife, Bobbi Barger Jones; children and family's, Keith and Leta Jones of Little Rock, Janice and Marlin Moore of West Monroe, La., and Melissa and Mike Hostetler of Sherwood; a brother, Eugene Jones of Bald Knob; and eight grandchildren, Holly, Kristin and Margo Jones, Meridith and Brian Phillips, Amanda and Andrew Hostetler, and Todd Smith.
Funeral services were Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Roller-Owens Funeral Home with the Rev. S. Cary Heard officiating. Burial was in Edgewood Memorial Park.
The family requests that memorials be made to the Park Hill Baptist Church Building Fund.
The Times - Feb. 26, 1998