Category Archives: “Looking Back”

Exceptional Men in Education: “Looking Back”

Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

Last week’s column paid tribute to the ladies who had schools named in their honor because of their contributions to Conway Public Schools. Today’s column pays tribute to the men for whom school buildings were named.

Carl W. Stuart (1923-1993) served as principal of Conway High School before becoming Continue reading

First Ladies of Education: “Looking Back”

Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

As the teachers and children go back to the classrooms of Conway for a new year, it seems appropriate to pay tribute to the ladies who made such an impact on the children of Conway Public Schools that the district named school buildings in their honor.

Medora Ellen Grissard Smith (1868-1951) became the first woman in the state of Arkansas to be elected Continue reading

A Football Legacy: “Looking Back”

Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

Marjorie “Margie” Wasson moved to Conway in her teens when her father, Harold Jesse Wasson, bought a dairy farm south of Conway. She attended Conway High but then went to Gulf Park College finishing school in Gulfport, Mississippi, graduating in 1950. She also Continue reading

The Faulkner County Poor Farm: “Looking Back”

Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

Before the implementation of government assistance programs to help those in need, people who could not support themselves might be forced to go to the “poor farm.”

Almost every community had such a place and one was established in what would be Faulkner County shortly after the area became settled. It was located southwest of Conway and at one time, encompassed 160 acres. Continue reading