Stories from Sunday, August 23, 2009

It was a way of life in this area for years. Cotton was king, fields of white were aplenty, and entire families headed to the fields in the fall, long pick sacks over their shoulders, to pull the fluffy white fibers from the bolls...

Aaron Parsley has joined the Hendrix College staff as an assistant athletic trainer. Parsley began his new position with the Conway-based school Monday, Aug. 17. A 2004 Rector High School graduate, Parsley says he wanted to choose a career which kept him involved in sports, which have been a big part of the 23-year-old's life...

Plans for Rector's big Labor Day Picnic are gearing up, and, as always, several pageants will be a part of the fun. Three pageants will be held Sunday, Sept. 6, on stage at Rector Memorial Park. All contestants for the Sunday pageants must attend school in the Rector School District...

Wanda Norred of Piggott recently retired as the office manager of the St. Francis Drainage District of Clay and Greene Counties, a job she had held for 35 years. At their meeting Tuesday the board of directors honored Norred with a resolution of appreciation for her years of service. ...

Leo Wayne Jackson, 82, of Paragould, died Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro. He was born January 27, 1927, in Greene County, the son of the late John and Viola Jackson. Leo was also preceded in death by his first wife, Edna Jackson; brother, Wilburn Jackson; grandson, Jeremy Gibson, and granddaughter, Tracy Gibson...

Jack Hardin, 79, of Rector passed from this life on August 14, 2009, at the Evergreen Nursing Home in Rector. Jack was born July 17, 1930, to the late Claude and Iris (Hancock)...

The 1992 Clay County Central baseball team is one of four 2009 inductees into the Rector High School Sports Hall of Fame (RHSSHOF). No one can deny the importance of the team, nor its impact on Rector athletics, as the young men and coaches who were a part of the squad earned the only senior high state championship in school history, capturing the Class A title with a 12-6 win over Hackett in El Dorado.. ...