In 1903, Julia Burnelle (Bernie) Smade Babcock became the first Arkansas woman to be included in Authors and Writers Who’s Who. She published more than forty novels, as well as numerous tracts and newspaper and magazine articles. She founded the Museum of Natural History in Little Rock (now Museum of Discovery), was a founding member of the Arkansas Historical Society, and was the first president of the Arkansas branch of the National League of American Pen Women.

Bernie Smade was born in Union, Ohio, on April 28, 1868, the first of six children, to Hiram Norton Smade and Charlotte Elizabeth (Burnelle) Smade. Her family moved to Russellville, where Smade attended public school. On March 17, 1884, when she was fifteen, she read her impassioned essay at the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Convention, which was published by request of the Russellville WCTU. She enrolled in Little Rock University, paying her way by working as the college president’s housekeeper.

Although she made excellent grades in school, Smade did not return to college the next year but instead married William Franklin Babcock, who worked for the Pacific Express Company, in 1886. For a short time, the couple lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where the society that had relied heavily on slavery in the recent past still retained many of the attitudes and customs of that time. Her observations there resulted later in the play Mammy, the first drama in which a slave “mammy” plays the leading role; it was later published by Neale Publishing Company of New York.

The Babcocks returned to Little Rock, where, after eleven years of marriage and the birth of five children, William died. His widow was determined to make a living by writing so that she could stay at home and raise her family; at night, she wrote stories and poems that she sent to editors across the country.

Her first book, The Daughter of the Republican, was published in 1900 and sold 100,000 copies in six months. It was followed by The Martyr (1900). These were “temperance novels,” describing the suffering caused by the consumption of liquor. Her books and emotionally charged tracts on the subject were credited with helping to bring about the national prohibition amendment in 1920.

Justice to the Woman (1901) and A Political Fool (1902) were political novels also about temperance. By Way of the Master Passion touched on the “fascinating story of evolution.” Babcock herself was interested in nature, and Darwin’s Origin of Species and the Bible were the first two books in her library after she was married.

When her youngest child started school, Babcock became society page editor for the Arkansas Democrat. She wrote features and, for a while, was the main editorial writer for the paper, though without a byline, which was standard newspaper practice at the time. Babcock was also the first female telegraph editor in the South.

After five years at the Democrat, she resigned to start her own project, becoming editor and publisher of The Sketch Book, “the most beautiful magazine in the South,” whose photography, paintings, stories, poetry, and music were original Arkansas contributions. Four issues a year were published from 1906 through 1909. In 1908, she also published the first anthology of poetry written by Arkansans, Arkansas People and Scenes: Pictures and Scenes, containing 100 poems and seventy illustrations.

Babcock moved to Chicago to work for a newspaper there, which serialized several stories she wrote, including “Daughter of the Patriot” and “The Devil and Tom Walker.” She also served on the staff of The Home Defender, a prohibition newspaper. She later returned to Arkansas, believing that to be a better environment for raising her children.

Babcock spent winters in New York City doing research in libraries and in the National History Museum. Her study of “submerged poverty people” (the unrepresented or unacknowledged poor) was introduced at a meeting of garment workers. It was used to inaugurate a strike for higher wages. Before the strike ended, 75,000 sympathy strikers marched on Broadway.

After reading a story in Ladies’ Home Journal about the love affair of Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, Babcock corresponded with the Illinois Historical Society and many persons who had known Lincoln personally. She became one of the country’s leading authorities on Lincoln, having conducted numerous personal interviews with his law partners and others, and published of The Soul of Ann Rutledge in 1919. This biographical novel was an international success, going through fourteen printings and translation into several foreign languages. It also was adapted into a stage play in 1934 and a radio play in 1953, when it was performed by the American Theater Wing.

Babcock learned through her research that she shared many of Lincoln’s beliefs, and she wrote four more books about Lincoln and his family between 1923 and 1929. She also wrote Light Horse Harry’s Boys (1931) about Robert E. Lee and The Heart of George Washington (1931) about the first U.S. president.

She used her love of nature and history to repudiate noted polemicist H. L. Mencken’s derision of Arkansas. Babcock decided in 1927 to “show ‘em by establishing a quality museum to belie the state’s reputation as a cultural backwater.” She first presented exhibits in a storefront on Main Street in downtown Little Rock. One such exhibit was King Crowley, a sculpted stone head containing eyes of copper with silver pupils and ears decorated with gold plugs, which had been “discovered” in a gravel pit on Crowley’s Ridge in Craighead County; thought to be an ancient artifact, it was later proven to be a fake, though Babcock was long a proponent of its authenticity.

Later that year, she secured the third floor of City Hall for the fledgling Museum of Natural History and Antiquities, which she financed with donations from friends. In 1928, Babcock wrote to Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the New York Natural History Museum, asking for help in securing exhibits. He sent her a boxcar of mounted animal displays.

In 1933, when space was needed for Works Progress Administration (WPA) offices, the museum’s exhibits were crated and stored in the basement. Many of these artifacts were pilfered, and few were returned despite Babcock’s call for help to the mayor.

In 1935, Babcock became folklore editor of the Federal Writers’ Project, for which she did research on African-American and Native American history in the state. Surveys included interviews with almost 1,000 ex-slaves, at which time she attended all-night voodoo rituals in keeping with her interest in the supernatural. She wrote for Modern Mystic, a magazine in London, England, and was a member of both the American and British Psychical Research Societies.

By 1941, the last surviving Confederate soldiers of the Civil War had vacated the Arsenal Building in Little Rock City Park. With the help of businessman Fred Allsop and the promise of city government to provide a curator’s salary and funds to renovate the building, Babcock again opened the Museum of Natural History. Then in her seventies, she literally lived in the basement and often scaled ladders to paint murals of prehistoric scenes on the walls to enhance exhibits.

Thanks in part to Babcock’s influence, the city park was renamed in honor of General Douglas MacArthur, who had been born in the Arsenal Building. Babcock corresponded with MacArthur, and he and his family attended a ceremony at the park on March 23, 1952.

Babcock retired from the museum in 1953. She donated many objects to the museum, including the large marble statue of a woman, entitled Hope, which she had placed there in memory of her husband. She itemized other items and billed the museum $800, with which she planned to start a new life at the age of eighty-five.

Her new life began in a small house on top of Petit Jean Mountain, where she began to paint and continued to write. In 1959, she published her only volume of poetry, The Marble Woman. She died at home on June 14, 1962, a few weeks after her ninety-fourth birthday; a neighbor found her sitting with a manuscript in her hand. Her mountaintop retreat had been aptly named—Journey’s End. She was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock.

This entry appears in the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

Photos credit Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Marcia Camp, and UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.

Betty Clark Dickey was born in tiny Black Rock, Arkansas in Lawrence County in 1940. She graduated as valedictorian in 1958 from Walnut Ridge High School and went to the University of Arkansas, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1962.

Following college, Betty taught school within the Watson Chapel and Pine Bluff School Districts, worked in her husband’s law office, and raised four children before deciding to pursue a degree in law. Betty earned her juris doctorate in 1985 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and was admitted to the Bar and licensed to practice law in Arkansas and later, in Texas.

Betty enjoyed many years of private practice as an attorney but soon began her career in public service. She served as City Attorney in Redfield and Assistant City Attorney in Pine Bluff. From 1991 to 1993, she served as commission attorney for the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. In 1995, Betty was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, consisting of Jefferson and Lincoln counties, to become the first female prosecuting attorney in Arkansas. She was appointed to the Arkansas Public Service Commission in 1999 by Governor Mike Huckabee, who later, in 2003, named Betty his chief legal counsel, the first woman to hold that role in Arkansas history.

Betty Dickey was appointed twice by Governor Mike Huckabee to serve stints on the Arkansas Supreme Court, one as Chief Justice. During her time on the state’s highest court, she authored a notable case involving the First Amendment and freedom of the press. She was appointed by Governor Asa Hutchinson in 2015 as one of three special justices to hear a case related to Arkansas’s gay marriage ban. In 2021, she was named redistricting coordinator for the Arkansas Board of Apportionment.

Notably, Betty Dickey was appointed to be Special Prosecutor in 1997 to prosecute the charges against a trusted Boy Scout master, Jack Walls. Mr. Walls was a notable and well- connected Lonoke County citizen, accused of more than a decade of horrific sexual abuse crimes against young boys involved with scouting. Mr. Walls seemed to be evading the justice he deserved until Betty Dickey took the case, amended, and substantially upped the charges and vigorously prosecuted Mr. Walls. The prosecution was successful, and Mr. Walls was sentenced to four life terms, plus two forty-year terms to be served concurrently.

Betty Dickey has four children, John, Laura, Ted, and Rachel, two daughters-in-law and one son-in-law, as well as 10 grandchildren. She lives in Little Rock.

Photos courtesy of the Museum of American History, Cabot Public Schools, Inviting Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Gussie Haynie was one of Arkansas’s best-known woman lawyers in the late 1930s. She was pioneer in Arkansas in championing the rights of poor divorced women and destitute children. She was the first woman appointed a deputy prosecuting attorney and the first woman to hold an executive-level cabinet position in the state’s government, heading the Department of Public Welfare from 1937 to 1939. She sought to modernize the state’s welfare programs’ administration, including introducing civil service standards for personnel. She was abruptly removed from her position in 1939.

Gussie Faye Haynie was born on June 13, 1901, in Pulaski County. (Her exact place of birth is not certain.) She was the older of two daughters of J. M. “Mike” Haynie and Mary F. Haynie; her younger sister was Tressie H. Haynie. J. M. Haynie was the sheriff and collector for Pulaski County in the late 1920s. In 1929, while being investigated by a grand jury for taking bribes to protect an illegal “roadhouse” operation outside Little Rock, he abruptly resigned and left the state.

Haynie graduated from Little Rock High School and received her license to practice law before the Arkansas Supreme Court on July 10, 1922, even before graduating from the Arkansas Law School the following June. She started as a deputy clerk of the Pulaski County Chancery Court, serving for five years before joining the Pulaski County Sheriff’s office in 1926, first as a deputy sheriff, then becoming chief clerk. At some point, she started working on cases involving domestic relations, representing (for free) poor divorced or separated women and deserted children seeking financial support from the men who had deserted them.

In his 1931 reelection campaign to remain the Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney, Carl E. Bailey promised to appoint a woman to handle domestic relations cases. On January 1, 1931, Bailey appointed Haynie to be his office’s “domestic relations attorney.” In her first eighteen months, Haynie handled nearly 600 cases involving 1,400 women and children. She said all the cases she handled were social problems whose solution was a community responsibility.

She was one of four women who graduated on June 1, 1932, from the Little Rock School of Social Work. Her graduation talk, “Development of the Family Court,” reflected her thinking about the need to establish a family court, not to “end family disorganization,” but with an aim to repair the effects of a broken home.

In March 1933, Bailey appointed Haynie to be a deputy prosecuting attorney in his office for domestic relations—the first woman deputy prosecutor in the state—though in accepting the promotion Haynie had to accept a reduced salary.

Throughout her career, she spoke at conferences on a range of family-related issues. She made a study of the juvenile court laws of Arkansas, which led to reforms in the Pulaski County Juvenile Court. She sought to prevent ill-advised marriages, which she frequently encountered in her work, by supporting a law requiring advance five-day notice of the intent to marry and setting a minimum age of eighteen for marriage without parental consent (she estimated that 600,000 married couples in the United States in 1935 consisted of boys and girls who were both under sixteen years of age).

Haynie was head of the legislative committee of the Little Rock Business and Professional Woman’s Club, where she focused on social legislation. Commenting in December 1934 on pending New Deal legislation, she said, “Our job as citizens of the state is to see that our legislature falls in line with the national program, co-operating wherever possible, and taking up where the national plan leaves off.”

In 1935, she drafted legislation to create a second division of the Pulaski County Chancery Court to be called the Domestic Relations Court, and she drafted two other bills, one to revise the laws governing the probate and juvenile courts and the other to require an investigation by a social agency as a prerequisite to adoption of a child.

In his 1936 campaign for governor, Bailey pledged to reorganize the state’s welfare agencies. With Haynie’s help, Bailey modified a bill originally drafted for the incumbent Junius Marion Futrell’s administration and submitted it to the Arkansas General Assembly. Known as the 1937 Welfare Law (Act 41), it passed on February 4, 1937. As the federal Social Security Board required, the 1937 Welfare Law reorganized the state’s Department of Public Welfare. Haynie had added probational work and aid to “crippled” children to the department’s functions.

In February 1937, Bailey appointed Haynie to head the Welfare Department, the state’s largest department in terms of number of employees (around 400) and budget. No woman had ever held a cabinet-level executive post in the state’s government before. Upon assuming the position of commissioner of the Department Public Welfare, Haynie immediately had to draft an operating plan for the new department and submit it along with a copy of the 1937 Welfare Law to the federal Social Security Board for approval. Her plan was approved in March, qualifying Arkansas to receive matching federal grants under the 1935 Social Security Act for aid to the needy aged, dependent children, and the blind.

Haynie said her mission was to make “an unbiased effort to assist and benefit the indigent, the underprivileged, the maladjusted and sick of Arkansas.” By 1938, under her administration, one out of every four Arkansans sixty-five years of age or older was receiving assistance.

As the first woman to hold an executive post, Haynie faced challenges to her authority heading the Welfare Department. Members of the seven-member State Board of Public Welfare asserted that Haynie had to report to them and not directly to the governor. They passed a resolution essentially saying that Haynie had no executive authority to hire and fire department employees on her own. Almost a year later, the state’s attorney general finally issued a public statement that, as executive head of the Welfare Department, Haynie was uniquely authorized by Act 41 to perform all the executive functions of the department, thus nullifying the Welfare Board’s resolution.

Some members of the Welfare Board also strongly objected to Haynie’s plan to place the Welfare Department’s personnel under civil service standards. This step was central to Haynie’s plan to modernize the department’s administration and a requirement imposed by the federal Social Security Board. It took multiple meetings between federal government representatives, Governor Bailey, and the chairman of the Welfare Board to affirm Haynie’s plan.

In February 1939, Bailey—pushed by William Abington and other legislators who disliked Haynie—summarily fired her. A newspaper account explained the decision thusly: “‘Women and politics don’t mix,’ a high official explained….Political pressure to make a change was brought to bear on the administration because ‘many legislators and others were embarrassed when they were forced to transact business with a woman.’”

After her firing, Haynie joined the staff of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in Arkansas in 1939 and was appointed a WPA district administrator in 1941.

Haynie married Claude E. Nicholas and moved to Seattle, Washington, where she died on October 23, 1957. She is buried in Roselawn Cemetery in Little Rock (Pulaski County).

This entry appears in the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

Photo credit Arkansas Gazette, November 30, 1922.

Jacquelyn Williams McCray, a native of Monticello, Arkansas is retired dean/director and professor emeritus of the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences (SAFHS) at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She was named Dean/Director 1890 Research and Extension in July 1995 and retired June 30, 2008.

Under McCray’s leadership, the School made significant strides in image enhancement, program and faculty expansion, resource development, and student recruitment and retention—including the establishment of the first (of two) nationally recognized USDA Centers of Excellence for Regulatory Sciences, which was followed by Aquaculture & Fisheries. Her grant writing and contract negotiations through the United States Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies exceeded $20 million. During her tenure, the School emerged as the University’s fastest growing academic unit having shown an enrollment increase of 40% while she was Dean/Director.

Prior to her appointment as dean, McCray served I numerous administrative positions in the School. She entered administration from a faculty position in the Department of Human Sciences where she conducted housing and community development research in Arkansas and the Southern Region for more than 20 years. During this time, she served as chair of two Southern Region Housing Research Projects, and she conducted contract research for the Lower Mississippi Delta Commission, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Arkansas Delta Finance Authority.

Professionally, McCray is a long-time member of the American Association of housing Educators having served as its national president in 1991-92. She has been a member of the Research Advisory Committee for the Housing Assistance in Washington, DC, and she is widely published in major housing, family and community development journals with more than 50 referred publications to her honor. McCray also served as chair of the Association of 1890 Extension Administrators and as a member of the National Extension Committee on Organization and Policy.

McCray earned the bachelor of science degree from Arkansas AM&N College (now UAPB), the master of arts degree from Michigan State University, and the doctor of philosophy degree from Florida State University. She has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from both UAPB and Florida State University. She was also named a Centennial Laureate in 2007, one of the top 100 graduates of the Florida State University by the College of Human Sciences during its 100 years of existence. McCray is a former member of the Board of Directors of Southern Bancorp Inc., along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Southern Bancorp is a CDFI Bank-Holding Company with branches in eastern Arkansas and western Mississippi, and she served on the Southern Bancorp Community Partners Board, the non-profit arm of Southern Bancorp. McCray was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe to serve two terms on the Arkansas Burial Association Board. In 2012, she was inducted into the UAPB/AM&N Alumni Hall of Fame.

After 42 years of service to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, she retired in 2008. She returned to her alma mater in January 2014, to serve as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs from 2014—2017. Most recently, Dr. McCray was recognized as a “Hidden Figure” in honor of Women’s History Month by the City of Pine Bluff in March, 2024

For more than 55 years Jamileh Kamran, owner of Jamileh Kamran Designs, has dedicated her career to fashion. Along the way she has not only made a name for herself locally, but also nationwide. Kamran has written two books, The Art of Couture and The Art of Decoration. Kamran opened the first School of Fashion in Arkansas, the Jamileh Kamran School of Fashion, now known as Jamileh Kamran Arkansas Fashion School, receiving national accreditation by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training and licensed by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education. Since then, Kamran has trained and mentored students of all ages and genders to be successful fashion designers and create jobs for themselves and others.

Born in Iran, Kamran has fond memories of her mother taking her to a marketplace and buying her small cuts of leftover fabric, which she would use to make clothing for her dolls. For the then 5-year-old Kamran, this marked the beginnings of a rich career that took her halfway around the world to Little Rock, where she helped raise the city’s profile in haute couture while dressing her clients.

Kamran’s career journey has its beginning in her birthplace ... northern Iran, close to the Caspian Sea. Her family consisted of her parents and her brother, Jalil “Jim” Kamran. Because her father worked for the department of education, the family moved every four or five years. When Jamileh Kamran was about 8, they moved to Tehran. They lived there a few years, then moved to southern Iran, near the Persian Gulf. They returned to Tehran when Kamran was in 12th grade.

At the age of 13, Kamran began to study design during her summer break from school. Her inspiration was her aunt, whom she describes as “the best tailor in town.”

Kamran’s idyllic childhood flowed into adolescence, then adulthood. She was 18 when she met Allen Afsordeh, the man who would become her husband. The two were taking post-high-school college prep courses. The couple dated for a short time, their courtship interrupted by Afsordeh’s enlistment in the army. After his army service was up, the couple married. At that time, Kamran did not practice her design work. Afsordeh found a job as an accountant in a bank, while Kamran worked for Iran Electronics Industries. Then came the day Kamran’s boss took her into his office and warned her to leave the country. Kamran heeded the advice. She and her then-2-year-old daughter, Nirvana, went to the United States in August 1978. Three months later, as Afsordeh was preparing to leave the country and join his family, the Iranian Revolution began. Kamran came to Arkansas to join her brother.

After her arrival, Kamran took English-language courses. She also took business administration courses at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock but ultimately decided that a career involving either was not for her. She returned to her design work, using her home as a base.

She began having private showings at the Little Rock Club atop what is now the 400 West Capitol building. Shortly after that she met the late philanthropist and “hat lady,” Willie Oates, and began charity fundraising through her shows.

Then Kamran got an early feather in her cap, by way of Hillary Clinton, first lady of Arkansas at the time. At the time Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, and Kamran’s daughter, Nirvana, were both accepted in the statewide Rockefeller gifted math program. When Kamran met Clinton at a function pertaining to the program, she took that opportunity to tell Clinton what she did. Kamran was invited to Clinton’s office to show her some sketches.

Shortly afterward, Bill Clinton was re-elected governor. It was time for another inaugural. Kamran created a design for her, a green lame gown overlaid with chiffon printed in gold. After that, Kamran created quite a few designs for Clinton off and on, traveling to the Governor’s Mansion for fittings.

After Clinton became first lady of the United States, Kamran made a couple of trips to the White House to continue to outfit her during her husband’s first term.

Oates was another devoted client. She and Oates were on at least 12 boards together.

Kamran has volunteered her time through fundraising, working with such entities as the Arkansas AIDS Foundation, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Lion’s World Services for the Blind, Youth Home of Arkansas, the American Heart Association and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She has received numerous awards, and her work was featured in such magazines as People and Southern Bride.

Courtesy Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Helaine Williams

JoAnne H. Bush began her public service career 51 years ago as City Clerk of her hometown, Lake Village, Arkansas. Mayor Bush’s employment started with the City of Lake Village on October 15, 1972. In 1991, she was sworn in as the town's first woman mayor and began her service to the city, Chicot County, Southeast Arkansas, and to the whole the state. In all, Mayor Bush served eighteen years as City Clerk and twenty-eight years as Mayor of her hometown. Bush retired as Lake Village mayor on December 31, 2018.

Mayor Bush has served on the Local Police and Fire Investment (LOPFI) Board under three different governors, chairing LOPFI, and bringing her own unbending sense of honesty and fair play to that institution. She served in these capacities from 1995 – 1997; 1999 – 2013 and chaired the Board from August 1999 to December 2013. Since its inception, Mayor Bush holds the single honor of being the first woman to serve on and chair the LOPFI Board, which oversees millions of dollars in retirement benefits for police and fire personnel in Arkansas.

In 2009, Mayor Bush served as the longest-tenured woman president of the Arkansas Municipal League (AML), which is a service and advocacy organization, and lead all five hundred municipalities—both large and small. JoAnne served with distinction on numerous AML boards, the executive committee, and the past presidents advisory council serving Arkansas cities and towns.

Bush represented tens of thousands of cities at the national level as a member of the National League of Cities (NLC) serving on committees such as the Finance, Administration, and Intergovernmental Relations Steering Committee, including the NLC Board of Directors. Also, at the national level, Mayor Bush was asked to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry due to her expertise at the local government level. She is a former board member of the Southeast Arkansas Chief Elected Officials Board, the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District, the Southeast Arkansas Solid Waste Board, and has served as a governor's appointee to the Chief Information Officer Council for the State of Arkansas. Mayor Bush also served on the Arkansas Delta By-Ways Board holding the position of Vice-President of the South Region. Currently, Mayor Bush serves as a Commissioner of the Arkansas Natural Resources Division and serves on the Executive Committee of the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation.

She has served as Chair for the Chicot County Housing Assistance Corporation. Between 1997 and 1998, as Chair, she oversaw the construction of one hundred self-help built, new houses in her community which are still thriving, viable homes today. Mayor Bush's hard work has not gone unnoticed.

In 2000, the Arkansas House of Representatives presented her with a special citation for her dedication and hard work performed for her town. As noted above, in 2002, she received the Arkansas Municipal League's Twenty-Five Years of Service Award and the Arkansas Department of Rural Services recognized Mayor Bush with the 2004-2005 Rural Advocate of the Year Award. This honor was presented in recognition for a lifetime of achievements and outstanding leadership and dedicated service to the people of rural Arkansas. The 2008 award from the Win Paul Rockefeller Leadership Award went to Mayor Bush for the great assistance and guidance she showed in establishing the Chicot County Literacy Council. Her own community recognizes her worth honoring her not once, but twice as the Lake Village Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in 1983 and again in 2001.

Although Mayor Bush has received personal accolades for her work around the State, she is extremely proud of the achievements of her city. Lake Village was recognized as Volunteer Community of the Year by the Arkansas Department of Tourism and Governor Huckabee. Lake Village also won the prestigious Henry Award for Community Tourism at the Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism. The Arkansas Wildlife Federation Conservation bestowed their Award for Outstanding Contributions given Lake Village’s wise use and management of the Nation’s resources. JoAnne was the only woman and a founding Board Member of the State Aid Street Committee. This committee was charged with creating policy on how street money would be equitably distributed throughout the state of Arkansas.

During her twenty-eight years as mayor of Lake Village, JoAnne was responsible for seeking out and receiving funding for the renovation of Lake Village’s historic Tushek building, built in 1906, and restoring it to as much original decor as possible. This building is the City Municipal Complex and houses all city employees under the same roof. Not only was the new municipal complex restored using grant money in the amount of over two million dollars, the more than 100-year-old complex possesses LEED certification, making it one of the very few buildings to achieve this certification and the first in the Arkansas delta region.

Most recently, due to the leadership and example of Mayor Bush, the City of Lake Village was awarded the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Fitness Award for the City’s exceptional leadership in physical activity and health for Arkansas Citizens. The City of Lake Village was one out of only two cities in the state of Arkansas awarded this honor.

Mayor Bush is married to 1st Lt. Eddy Bush who retired from the Arkansas Highway Police and is now the current mayor of Lake Village. JoAnne has a daughter, Whitnee Vencill Bullerwell, who is married to Mike Bullerwell. They reside in Little Rock. Mayor Bush is the proud “MeeMee” of Emilee Anne Bullerwell who is a fifth grader at Pulaski Academy. She also has two bonus daughters and bonus grandchildren, Beverly Bush of Searcy—who is mom to Collier and Amy Saunders of Benton, who is married to Brent Saunders, and have two children, Jack, and Sophie. Mayor Bush is a member of the Lake Village Assembly of God Church.

Simply put, Mayor Bush loves her Lord, her family, her city, and her state!

Kathy Webb currently serves as Vice-Mayor of Little Rock. Webb was elected to the Little Rock City Board of Directors in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018 and 2022, representing Ward 3 in Midtown. Webb recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the AR Hunger Relief Alliance, the statewide umbrella organization for Feeding America food banks, food pantries and agencies, and hunger activists, the lead partner for the AR No Kid Hungry Campaign, and the education and advocacy clearinghouse on hunger issues in Arkansas.

Previously, Webb represented District 37 in the Arkansas House of Representatives, comprised of much of mid-town Little Rock. She served as Co-Chair of Joint Budget Committee, the first woman in Arkansas history to hold that position. Webb is also the first open LGBTQ person to run for and be elected to political office in Arkansas.

In 2007, Webb received the Rising Champion Award from Arkansas Kids Count Coalition, followed by the Champion Award in 2009, 2010 Elected Public Official of the Year from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Imagine Justice Award from the Black Methodists for Social Renewal and the Steel-Millar Award from Hendrix College for Religion and Social Awareness. In 2011, Webb received the First Branch Award from the Arkansas Judicial Council, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from JCA (formerly NCCJ), and the Mental Health Council of Arkansas Legislator of the Year. TALK BUSINESS rated Webb as the most effective member of the Arkansas House in the 88th General Assembly.

Webb became CEO of the Alliance in 2012. Long active in the fight against hunger, Webb founded the AR Legislative Hunger Caucus in 2007, organized the first Serving Up Solutions in 2008, and served on the Alliance Board prior to being selected as CEO. The mission of the Alliance allowed Webb to pursue her passion of providing immediate support for those in need as well as fighting for systemic change. In 2013, she received the National Advocate of the Year Leadership Award from Share Our Strength. The competitive award was given to Webb based on her tireless efforts on Share Our Strength’s behalf, in the fight to end childhood hunger. She also received the Brownie Ledbetter Civic Engagement Award from the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas in 2013.

More recently, she received the Living Legacy Award and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Living Legacy Award from Philander Smith College, the Center Street Champion Award from First United Methodist Church, and Arkansas Advocate’s Friend of Children Award. In 2023, Webb received the Sandra Cherry Award from The Gaines House for her work on behalf of the unsheltered, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the AR Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Previously, Webb co-owned Lilly’s Dim Sum, Then Some. She received the Arkansas Hospitality Association’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2005 and the Restaurateur of the Year Award in 2011. Webb worked in the hospitality industry in Chicago and the Washington, DC area before returning to Little Rock. She served as a national officer in the National Organization for Women (NOW) in Washington, DC, where she honed her organizing and advocacy skills.

She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a BA in Political Science. In 2007, Webb attended Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, Webb served as Honorary Survivor Chair of the 2015 Arkansas Race for the Cure. In 2017, she was honored as a Hero by the Chicagoland Affiliate of Komen for the Cure, on the 20th anniversary of their founding. Webb served as Founding President from 1997-1999.

Webb represents Ward 3 on the Little Rock City Board, and is the liaison to the Little Rock Zoo, Commission on Children Youth, and Families, and the Age-Friendly Commission. Webb recently served on two commissions under former Governor Asa Hutchinson, the Commission on Women and the Food Desert Working Group (Co-Chair). She currently chairs the Mayor’s Food Desert Task Force. She recently formed Kathy L. Webb Consulting, to focus on assisting non-profits in organizational development, advocacy, or other issues.

Webb served on the national board of DePaul USA, which operates programs for alleviating homelessness across the United States and the National League of Cities Council on Youth, Education, and Families. She is an active member of First United Methodist Church.

Webb’s favorite title is “aunt” to her nieces and nephews. She is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan (with the Cubs a close second), played competitive basketball and tennis in college, loves books, theatre, and movies, and embraces musical genres including classic rock, country, and opera. Webb is a popcorn aficionado and lover of all the foods she prepared in her restaurants. Webb lives with Alex (Hamilton) and George (Washington), her rescue cats, and hopes to add a dog to the family soon.

The Committee of One Hundred for the Ozark Folk Center, and specifically founder Dr. Bessie Boehm Moore, had the unparalleled vision to gather statewide support for the Folk Center by bringing together a group of women who could get-things-done. Dr. Moore was a force of nature who knew presidents, governors, and officials—all of whom would answer her call and say “yes” to her request. This resulted in a committee that, 50 years later, has impacted the arts and humanities, non-profit and for-profit businesses, community service, and education.

It is fair to say that without this group of women, craft apprentices, the Music Roots Program, and the Heritage Herb Gardens would likely never have existed. It is also noteworthy that many of the crafters, musicians, and herbalists are women. Without those hundreds of crafters, thousands of folk music students, and inestimable number of visitors to the herb gardens and symposiums the current state of folklife in Arkansas might be dim or non-existent. The Committee of One Hundred for the Ozark Folk Center has given Arkansans and visitors a living link to the pioneer past and a thriving cultural and economic future.

For 50 years, the Committee of One Hundred has existed to support the Ozark Folk Center’s mission of folklife preservation. While much has been funded over those decades, there are three major areas of focus: the Music Roots Program; craft apprenticeships; and the Heritage Herb Gardens. The Ozark Folk Cultural Resource Center received considerable funding from the Committee of One Hundred and this major collection of Ozark folk history is now housed at the Arkansas State Archives.

The Music Roots Program

The Committee of One Hundred has been a primary funding partner of the Music Roots program since its inception over 25 years ago. The results have exceeded expectations with student enrollment ranging between 50 to 130 students per year. Over the past 25 years, conservative estimates would put the total number of students between 1,500 and 2,500. Students have learned to play instruments, work with other musicians by forming ensembles and perform on a stage. Beyond that, the students, their families, and the community have gained a greater appreciation for the music heritage of the Ozarks. In 2006 the Music Roots program earned a Henry Award, tourism’s highest honor and in 2023, Music Roots received the Arkansas Art Council’s Arkansas Governor’s Art Award for Folklife Preservation.

During the summer of 2023, the Committee of One Hundred was a sponsor of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Five women represented the music of the Arkansas Ozarks and all were associated with the Music Roots program. At every performance, these musicians told the audience about the Music Roots program and the talent of these women dazzled audiences leading to so much national publicity that it became impossible to track. In addition to the Music Roots program, the Committee also funds the highly successful Next Generation concerts at the Ozark Folk Center which feature multiple generations and provide performance opportunities for up-and-coming student talent.

The Committee of One Hundred for the Ozark Folk Center’s dedication to folk music preservation has resulted in a huge economic impact with musicians ranked highest in creative jobs in Stone County and music instrument sales and repairs—in tiny Stone County—reaching 1.7 million dollars. The impact of this music legacy is impossible to measure but it is fair to say, that without Committee funds, folk music would not be thriving in Arkansas!

Crafts Apprenticeships

From its earliest years, the Committee realized that traditional craft skills were being lost and founding members based their apprenticeship program on lessons learned while travelling to and in dialogue with Colonial Williamsburg. The Committee of One Hundred has funded almost $200,000 in crafts apprenticeships over the decades. Uniquely, both the master crafter and the apprentice were paid and apprentices were not required to remain at the Ozark Folk Center thereby spreading these craft skills and folk culture throughout Arkansas and the nation.

It is impossible to measure the economic impact of the numerous small businesses that were created through the apprenticeship program but the impact of the Committee’s investment resonates throughout Mountain View and beyond. The first craft apprenticeships began in 1978 and two apprentices in that group founded companies still in existence today. David Mathews was a blacksmith apprentice who later founded Stone County Ironworks and was Arkansas’ Small Businessman of the Year in 1991 and was also named to Inc. Magazine’s list of the country's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies. It was the only Arkansas company to make the list.

Original apprentice, Jerry Lovenstein learned broom making from Bill and Jim Ford going on to found, with wife Judy, Grassy Creek Brooms where they make brooms by hand in a workshop on the land that they homesteaded. In 1985, Jerry was a master artisan in the National Endowment for the Arts’ folk arts apprentice program and a recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council’s 2001 individual artist fellowship in traditional craft. Numerous other Folk Center artisans and apprentices have contributed to the creative economy through awards, teaching, and founding arts-related organizations.

Heritage Herb Gardens

In June of 1977, Committee of One Hundred members Elizabeth Warner, Sidney Nisbet, and Billy Joe Tatum tilled and planted a cabin garden with native and European herbs. Over the years, the gardens flourished and by June 12th of 1986, the Heritage Herb Garden was dedicated to the people of Arkansas by Arkansas First Lady Hillary Clinton. In 1993, the herb gardens were recognized with Arkansas State Parks Director’s Commendation for the advancement of the State Parks System through the Sumptuous Herbal Feast and Workshop.

Additional awards for the Committee of One Hundred include a 1985 Henry Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, the 2001 Partners in Parks Gold Award from the Arkansas Tourism Foundation, 2007 Partners in Parks Platinum Award from the Arkansas Tourism Foundation, 2012 Arkansas State Parks Director’s Commendation for the advancement of the State Parks System through the Music Roots Program, and the 2023 Folklife Award for the Music Roots Program from the Arkansas Arts Council’s Governor’s Arts Awards.

The economic impact of the Committee of One Hundred’s fifty-year legacy can be measured through direct funding at almost $2,000,000 and volunteer hours valued at $2,202,112. Difficult to measure although vitally important are the impacts of the craft apprenticeship program, Music Roots program, and Heritage Herb Gardens which have spawned local businesses and helped to build the creative economy and vibrant culture for which Mountain View is known today. Over the past fifty years, the Committee has given almost $2,000,000 in direct funding to programs that include craft apprenticeships, the Heritage Herb Gardens, the Ozark Cultural Resource Center, and Folk Center Special Projects and Staff Awards. This amount, adjusted for inflation, is a conservative summary that does not include any fundraising costs or Committee events. The Committee of One Hundred is an entirely volunteer organization and the financial impact of their volunteer hours is approximately $2,202,112. A conservative estimate of annual Committee volunteer hours would be 3129 hours per year or 156,400 hours over 50 years.

The Committee of One Hundred has contributed to the well-being of Arkansans by preserving the pioneer skills of craft and plant usage as well as the folk music that served as entertainment and salve for the soul in times of sorrow. The Committee was an early contributor to Arkansas’ creative economy resulting, five decades later, in Arkansas’ reputation as a source of fine craft, music preservation, and herbal knowledge.