Stories from Friday, September 16, 2011

Recently announced Clay County Farm Bureau agency manager Cliff Gifford is no stranger to area farmers. Gifford, of Corning, farmed in the county for 27 years and has been in the Bureau, serving on the board of directors for 26 years, including three years as president and 15 years as legislative chairman...

Daniel Van Aalsburg is in his second year as the director of the Rector High School Band. He has been busy trying to rebuild a band program which has suffered from low numbers the last few years. The senior band consists of 26 students in grades seven through 12. There are 25 fifth graders and 15 sixth graders...

A Little Bit of Nonsense certainly caught the attention of many in Piggott this past weekend. Chef Randy Blair of Houston and his 2007 Toyota Yaris art car, named A Little Bit of Nonsense, were warmly greeted during their recent stay in Piggott by crowds of residents stricken with curiosity at the site of the car, which is entirely covered with dichroic glass, signs and figurines...

With the Clay County Fair livestock exhibits beginning Wednesday, area students have been hard at work making final preparations with their animals. At Piggott High School, Future Farmers of America sponsor and agriculture teacher Casey Simpson used the preparation of his students' calves as a method of instructing other students in how to make the animals ready for showing. Last week, Simpson brought calves in one at a time to go over some of the basic points of presentation...

Laura Juanita Moore, 69, of Hardy, Ark., passed away Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, at Murphy Health and Rehab in Piggott, Ark. She was born on May 4, 1942, in Pontotoc, Miss., and was the daughter of the late William and Mary Etta Ramsey Blagg. She is survived by her children, Clifford E. ...

Delphia Jane Hayes, 97, of Rector died Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, in Kennett, Mo. Mrs. Hayes was born on Nov. 5, 1913, near Rector, Ark. She was a homemaker and was of the Baptist faith. Survivors include two sons, William Hayes and wife Vicki and Ralph Hayes, Jr., both of Rector; five grandchildren, Lynn Hayes, Susan Hayes, William Hayes, Jr., Holly Robertson and Nick Fisher, and five great-grandchildren, Candace, Karah and Will Hayes, Chelsea and Nichole Fisher...

Harold Utley, 81, of Rector passed away Sept. 7, 2011, at the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould. He was born to the late Samuel and Loney (Long) Utley in Clay County. Preceding him in death were three brothers, J.C., R.L. and James Utley; three sisters, Marie Jenkins, Geneva Green and Mary Akers, and a half-sister, Thelma Morris...

Virginia "Tootie" H. Hampton, 71, of Piggott, Ark., passed away Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Little Rock, Ark. She was born on July 28, 1940, and was the daughter of the late Andrew Jackson and Alma Litto Crowell Duff. She was united in marriage to Cletis Earl Hampton on March 7, 1960, and to this union three children were born...

Adell Davis Cox passed away at his home in Rector, on Sept. 11, 2011. He was born to Remmel and Lucy Arment Cox. He was preceded in death by his mother, Lucy Arment Lankford; stepfather, Carl Lankford; father, Remmel Cox, and stepmother, Viva Cox; grandparents, E.H. and Betty Lee Grady and Mr. and Mrs. Elvis Cox; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Flora and Norvell Harden...

Mrs. Ruby Rudeen Lloyd, 67, of rural Wynne, died Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, at her residence after a long illness. She was born Jan. 14, 1944, in Cross County, Ark., to the late Presley Smith and Lorene Cooper Smith. A lifelong area resident, Mrs. Lloyd attended Wynne Public Schools, was of the Pentecostal faith, a homemaker, an avid gardener in the summer, and enjoyed quilting and reading in the winter. She always had time for her family, especially her grandchildren...

Jamie Jo Ray Lawrence, 35, of Jonesboro, Ark., died Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, at his home. Born Aug. 28, 1976, in Jonesboro, he was the son of Paul Lawrence and Kathy Morris. Mr. Lawrence was an arborist and an avid outdoorsman. He enjoyed hunting and fishing...

My recent high school reunion renews my conviction that I am getting older. Well, okay, old. On Saturday, less than half my class gathered for our last reunion. There were 62 of us who graduated from Caruthersville High. To date, 36 of them are deceased...

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life. Over the Labor Day weekend I had the privilege of being involved in a celebration of the progress on the new Veterans Memorial Park in Rector...