The first day of 2016 saw the death of a political giant in Arkansas, Dale Bumpers, and in April, Ray Thornton, a respected politician, jurist and educator, died.
Also passing during the year were a number of noted philanthropists, such at Pat Walker; business heavyweights, such as Tyson’s Buddy Wray; and beloved media veterans, including Ben Fry, Allen Weatherly and Beth Ward Haynie.
Following is a reminder of some of the notable deaths of 2016.
January
Dale Bumpers, 90, a former Arkansas governor who served in the U.S. Senate for 24 years, died Jan. 1. Bumpers, considered one of the most talented politicians Arkansas has ever produced, defeated Orval Faubus and Winthrop Rockefeller for governor in 1970 and J. William Fulbright in 1974 for the U.S. Senate. A gifted speaker, Bumpers delivered one of his best-known speeches defending President Bill Clinton during Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Hayes McClerkin, 84, former speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, died Jan. 6. McClerkin, a prominent Texarkana lawyer, also served as an aide to Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. He was a member of the House from 1961-70 and was a member of the Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield board, serving as chairman 2004-11.
Bradley Dean Jesson, 83, of Fort Smith, a former chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, died Jan. 11. Most of his career was spent with the Hardin Law Firm, now Hardin Jesson & Terry PLC, but Jesson also served as Fort Smith city attorney, legislative secretary to Gov. Dale Bumpers, chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party, chair of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees and special master for the Supreme Court in Lake View School District v. Huckabee, the landmark case involving public education in Arkansas.
Jim Hannah, 71, former chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, died Jan. 14. Hannah, a longtime circuit court judge, was elected to the court in 2000 and became chief justice in 2004, serving in that role until August 2015, when he resigned from the court because of illness. He was known for his efforts to make the court system more open to the public and to implement new technologies, particularly digital technologies.
Donald “Buddy” Wray, 78, former president of Tyson Foods Inc., died Jan 18. Wray was instrumental in transforming Tyson Foods into a corporate giant. The University of Arkansas established the Donald “Buddy” Wray Chair in Food Safety in the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture in 2004, and Wray was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2012. He retired from Tyson in 2014.
March
Otto Jech, executive vice president of George’s Inc. of Springdale, died March 6. He was 86. Jech began his poultry career in his father’s chicken coop building business and in 1951 began taking care of a chicken farm for the founder of George’s. He was named executive vice president of the company in 1980.
Ben Fry, the longtime general manager of Little Rock public radio stations KUAR and KLRE, died March 10. Fry, 54, had been general manager of the two University of Arkansas at Little Rock-affiliated stations since 1995, overseeing financial management, engineering, programming and fundraising.
Bob Cooper Coleman Sr., a member of the family that founded Coleman Dairy in Little Rock, died March 18 at the age of 62. Coleman worked for 44 years at Coleman Dairy, which was established in Little Rock in 1862, sold to a dairy cooperative in 1995, and in 2006 became a division of Hiland, owned by Prairie Farms of Carlinville, Illinois. Coleman, head chef of the Coleman Cooking Team, also was active with the Arkansas Hospitality Association, which in 2013 honored him with the Maurice E. Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award.
John Simone, the former CEO of USA Truck Inc. of Van Buren, died March 24 in Fernandina Beach, Florida. He was 54. Simone led a turnaround of USA but took a leave of absence in April 2015 after being diagnosed with lung cancer; he later resigned in July 2015.
Joseph Stanford “Sandy” Boone, 93, of Springdale, a businessman and real estate developer, died on March 31. Boone, the founder of Original Homes Inc., helped organize the Northwest Arkansas Homebuilders Association and served two years as president. He was a director of the National Association of Home Builders for eight years.
April
Raymond Hoyt “Ray” Thornton Jr., 87, a former Arkansas Supreme Court justice and congressman, died April 13. Thornton served Arkansas as attorney general from 1971-73, U.S. representative for Arkansas’ 4th District from 1973-79 and U.S. representative for Arkansas’ 2nd District from 1991-97. He was a state Supreme Court justice from 1997-2005, and he was president of two Arkansas universities: Arkansas State University from 1980-84 and the University of Arkansas from 1984-90. Thornton was the nephew of brothers Witt and Jack Stephens, who founded Stephens Inc. of Little Rock.
Bettye Caldwell, of Little Rock, a pioneer in the field of early childhood development, an educator and a member of the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame, died April 17. She was 91. Caldwell, whose research led to the creation of Project Head Start, also was a professor of education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1974, becoming a Donaghey Distinguished Professor in 1978, and in 1993, she became a professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Scott Hembree, 55, of Rogers, CEO of Global Dental Technologies in Bentonville, died April 23. Hembree, a Fort Smith native, was a former owner of Trans-American Tire and Trans States Lines in Fort Smith and Sugar Hill Farm in Paris. Hembree was the son of the late H.L. Hembree III, who served as chairman and CEO of Arkansas Best Corp., now ArcBest Corp.
Henry Ford Trotter Jr., a prominent Pine Bluff businessman, died April 25. He was 78. He joined his father in the family business, Trotter Ford, in the 1960s and worked there until his death, serving as chairman. The company, now Trotter Auto Group, expanded to own a number of automobile dealerships.
John Lisle, 77, founder of Lisle Rutledge Attorneys in Springdale, died April 27. Lisle, a trial lawyer, also served in the Arkansas Senate in 1981-83. “To many, being a lawyer was a job,” said his law partner, Donnie Rutledge. “To John, it was something much more. Something that is hard to put into words, but is fundamental, authentic and profound.”
Herbert “Herbie” Byrd, 87, of Little Rock, died April 29. Byrd was a longtime radio broadcaster who covered the Central High Crisis and politicians ranging from Orval Faubus to Bill Clinton.
May
Gus “Buddy” Blass II, 92, a Little Rock businessman and philanthropist, died May 8. Blass began his business career at the Gus Blass Co., leaving to start Capital Savings & Loan in 1961, which grew to almost $100 million in assets before it was sold in 1980. He founded Capital Properties in 1970. Blass served on the board of trustees of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville from 1981 to 1991.
Michael Allen Lasiter, 50, founder of Redstone Construction Group of Little Rock, died May 31. Lasiter expanded his paving and asphalt company into many areas, including building, recycling, excavation, real estate and the quarry business.
Neal Lance Gildner of Bismarck, owner of Gildner Autogroup in Arkadelphia and noted for his generosity to local nonprofits, died May 29. He was 60.
June
Gary DiGiuseppe, 60, a longtime central Arkansas journalist and newscaster, died June 1 in a vehicle accident. DiGiuseppe was the morning newscaster on “First News With Kevin Miller” on KARN.
Paul Barton, 58, of Arlington, Virginia, a journalist who once was Washington Bureau chief for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and whose career included covering Bill Clinton and interviews with President George W. Bush, died June 6.
Wayne Dowd, 74, of Texarkana, a former state senator best known for his work on the Arkansas juvenile justice code, died June 16. Dowd, who served in the Senate from 1978 to 2000, “inaugurated the juvenile court system in Arkansas,” said Tom Cabaniss of Texarkana, a retired CPA long involved in state and local politics. “He was big into judicial code and having a whole separate code for juveniles rather than just hardened criminals.”
Homer Connell, 73, founder of the popular plate lunch restaurant Homer’s Restaurant in Little Rock, died June 17.
Donna Kelley, a KARN radio reporter and newscast anchor, died June 26. She was 66. Kelley, who worked at KARN for 16 years, coming to Little Rock from Orlando, Florida, was remembered as a “consummate professional” and hailed for her journalistic integrity.
July
Don Soderquist, 82, of Rogers, a longtime executive with Wal-Mart Stores, died July 21. He started with Wal-Mart in 1980, serving as an executive vice president. In 1988, Soderquist became chief operating officer and vice chairman, retiring from those positions in 2000. He was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2010.
Randy Alexander, a leader in residential real estate in Arkansas who owned McKay & Co. Realtors, died July 22 in Little Rock. He was 71. Alexander joined McKay & Co. as a real estate agent when the company was founded in 1972. In 1980, he became president, and two years later, he purchased the firm’s residential sales division. He retired in 2010, when he closed the firm.
Sheilla Lampkin, 70, a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Monticello, died July 23. Lampkin, a retired schoolteacher, was vice chairman of the House Education Committee.
August
S. Gene Cauley, 48, of Hot Springs, once a high-profile class-action lawyer in Little Rock before pleading guilty to stealing millions from a client trust account, died Aug. 12.
Ronald Gene “Ronnie” Baldwin, the executive director of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association, died Aug. 28. He was 63. Baldwin, a longtime law enforcement officer, also served five terms as Cross County sheriff, retiring in 2008.
September
Pat Walker of Springdale, a philanthropist and co-founder of the Willard & Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, died Sept. 3. She was 97. Walker had been inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame just a few days earlier, on Aug. 25. Walker’s philanthropic contributions were enormous, and a number of institutions in Arkansas are named for her, among them the Pat Walker Theater at Springdale High School, the Pat Walker Health Center on the University of Arkansas campus at Fayetteville and the neonatal intensive care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Andrew Jackson “Andy” Lee III, who served seven terms as Benton County sheriff from 1989-2002, died Sept. 5. He was 68. Lee also served as a Bentonville City Council member and as the executive director of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. Lee was living in Florida but died while visiting relatives in Bentonville.
Pat M. Riley Sr., 92, a Little Rock businessman who invested in nursing homes and opened a number of health clubs, died Sept. 6. In the 1980s, Riley opened four clubs that evolved into the Little Rock Athletic Club, the Little Rock Racquet Club, the North Little Rock Athletic Club and the Downtown Athletic Club. Riley was a member of the Arkansas Tennis Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame.
Dr. W. Martin Eisele, 94, of Hot Springs died Sept. 14. Eisele, one of the first board-certified surgeons in the state of Arkansas, also served as president of the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in promoting a new Hot Springs Community College.
Dale Freeman, Lawrence County judge, died Sept. 17 at 75. He was instrumental in a successful special countywide sales tax election last fall to pay for a new county jail.
Eugene John Post Sr., founder of Mount Bethel Winery in Altus, died Sept. 18. He was 88. Post served on the Franklin County Quorum Court for 42 years.
October
Maurice Jennings, a prominent Fayetteville architect and partner of famed Arkansas architect E. Fay Jones, died Oct. 10. He was 68. Jennings worked on many noted projects, including Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs and the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista.
Ron Loveless, 73, a former Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club executive, died Oct. 17. Loveless started at Wal-Mart as a store stocker and worked his way up through the company until Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s founder, picked him to head the new Sam’s Club division. Loveless retired from the company in 1986.
Ray Gosack, former Fort Smith city administrator, died Oct. 21. He was 58. He worked for the city for 20 years in a number of roles. During his tenure, the city developed its first comprehensive plan, and Gosack was instrumental in the revitalization of downtown Fort Smith and the redevelopment of Chaffee Crossing.
November
Allen Weatherly, 64, who led the Arkansas Educational Television Network through 15 years of awards and online expansion, died Nov. 1. Under Weatherly’s leadership, the Conway-based network of PBS member stations increased educational services, including online professional development for teachers, produced programming and training for Ready to Learn, the network’s children’s media service, and archived the memories of Arkansas’ World War II veterans.
John “Skip” Gregory, 79, a Rogers businessman active in city affairs, died Nov. 7. Gregory, who had owned Gregory’s Menswear in Rogers, served as a city councilman, interim mayor for three months and member of the Rogers Planning Commission.
Reginald D. “Reggie” Marshall, 58, of Little Rock, an interior designer and co-founder of Marshall Clements Interiors & Antiques, died Nov. 30.
December
Christen Franke, an owner and operator with her family of Franke’s Cafeteria in Little Rock, died Dec. 4. She was 37.
Donna Galchus, founding member of Cross Gunter Witherspoon & Galchus PC of Little Rock, died Dec. 4. She was 70. Galchus practiced labor, employment and immigration law for the firm, founded in 1997.
Ron Pierce, 81, of Mountain Home, the founder of Bass Cat Boats and a former member of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, died Dec. 4. Pierce was Mountain Home’s mayor from 1976 to 1986 and served on the Game & Fish Commission from 2006-13.
Edward Eugene “Gene” Lewellen Sr., of Little Rock, the owner and operator of Terry’s Finer Foods in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood for more than 30 years, died Dec. 5, 2016. He was 83.
Beth Ward Haynie, 74, a fixture on Little Rock television for more than 37 years, died Dec. 8. Known as Beth Ward, she had hosted the noon newscast of KTHV, Channel 11, which she had helped launch in 1987 as “Arkansas Today,” and the morning show. She was also widely known for her weather reporting and for hosting “Dialing for Dollars” on KARK, Channel 4, where she began her television career in 1968.
Donald Corbin, 78, of Little Rock, a retired Arkansas Supreme Court justice, died Dec. 12. Corbin also served in the state House of Representatives and on the Arkansas Court of Appeals. He was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1990, retiring at the end of 2014, and participated in a number of high-profile decisions, writing decisions that struck down a ban on gay foster parents and a law requiring voters to show photo identification.