2008: An eventful year in Rector

Rector community development director Cyndi Corkran (center) and a team from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program discuss the historic significance of the First United Methodist Church and other Rector buildings in an April visit to determine whether Rector's downtown area qualifies as an historic district. (Democrat photo/Nancy Kemp) [Click to enlarge]

The last year, like so many others in a small, tight-knit community like Rector, has been filled with a full range of emotions. Time, the greatest of all equalizers, continued to play its role in the lives of all.

For the second straight year, families were forced to spend time apart, as 2008 began with the soldiers of the 39th Infantry Brigade journeying to Camp Shelby, Miss., for two months of training prior to shipping out to security details in Iraq. The 39th consisted of 3,200 Arkansas Army National Guard soldiers, including several men from Rector. About half of those in the 39th were combat veterans.

In the time they were apart, the families of local soldiers sought comfort from brief phone messages, emails, letters and the shared emotions of others like themselves.

The soldiers of the 39th Infantry Brigade were honored during a special assembly held at the Rector gymnasium. [Click to enlarge]

The difficult months eventually passed, as the soldiers began returning home earlier this month. A sense of pride could be felt throughout the community as yellow ribbons and signs went up at businesses and homes to welcome back those brave soldiers who had served their country well.

The City of Rector turned an eye to the future in 2008, as its efforts to provide improvement opportunities to residents manifested in the form of the planned Northeast Arkansas Innovative Training Center.

The center, which will be located in the former Dollar General building on Main Street, will offer educational training through a partnership with both industry and Black River Technical College. Plans for the center include classrooms, as well as a wellness center dedicated to exercise and fun.

The former jail site was donated to the city by Sherland Hamilton for use in the city's community development efforts. [Click to enlarge]

The NEAITC is a project which has many city officials excited about the future potential of not only the center itself, but its impact on Rector and northeast Arkansas as a whole.

Few organizations have done as much for the future as the Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation. Through the efforts of some of the most caring individuals to ever call Rector home, steps have been taken to help the town's youth have even more opportunities to achieve their dreams.

Two Rector families created scholarships, with the Robert and Pauline Crockett and James W. Graves Memorial Scholarships offering graduates some much needed assistance in earning a college education.

Not stopping there, the organization continues to offer assistance in a wealth of areas ranging from health care to clothing for young students who are in need.

The Helping Hands Foundation also generated a great deal of interest through its efforts to bring some of the top gospel artists to the area for a July benefit concert, as well as introducing a whole new generation of Rector residents to the stellar artwork of native Paul Frets in an art show during Labor Day weekend.

Here are some of the events that shaped the year 2008 in Rector:

January

Rector teen Ariel Dooley, who was born with spina bifida, is featured in one of the popular Gaither Homecoming videos. Dooley, a big Gaither fan, was interviewed on the video by Bill Gaither. A premiere showing of the video was held at the Rector Community Center...Gerald McClung retires from the Arkansas State Police after 31 years of service...The Rector High School Marching Band purchases several new instruments through funds provided by the Helping Hands Foundation...The soldiers of the 875th, many of whom are from Rector, are honored during a special ceremony at Arkansas State University...Remodeling begins on the old jail property donated to the city by Sherland Hamilton, with plans calling for the building to serve as an office for community development director Cyndi Corkran, as well as an information center and office for the Rector Area Chamber of Commerce...The James W. Graves Memorial Scholarship is created in an effort coordinated by members of the family and the Helping Hands Foundation...Attorney Mike Trail opens a new office on West Fourth Street...Hannah Parsley is named the 2008 basketball homecoming queen...Weldin and Ruth Wimberley celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary...RHS band director Craig Wadley performs with the Temptations at the ASU Convocation Center...Toshya Leonard, Emily Vangilder and Lindsey Ford earn the top three places in the school spelling bee...Pauline Crockett of Rector creates an endowment of $300,000 for the Robert and Pauline Crockett Scholarship as part of her life's work in helping Rector students receive the best education available...RHS drama students earn 20 awards at the state drama festival, including $245,662 in potential scholarships...The Lady Cougars play their final game of the season at the Rector gymnasium, finishing the year with a perfect 12-0 at home...Rector is included on the www.gotmesker.com architecture website for the number of buildings which have the historic facades and trim...High winds and snow hit Rector with the winds damaging several buildings.

February

Clay County residents take part in the Presidential Preferential Primary Election on Feb. 5...Sigsby Insurance Inc. is presented with an award by Cameron Insurance Company for its outstanding performance for fiscal year 2007...Jo Adams is presented a $500 Clay County Single Parent Scholarship...Rector Gifted and Talented students host the Northeast Arkansas Business Expo, the first such event held in this area...The annual FFA dinner and auction brings in visitors from all over the state while assisting the organization continuing its many activities...Third grade students share their words of love in Valentine letters printed in the Democrat...Marki McMillin creates a large castle to serve as a Valentine's Day post office for students in Lynnette Trail's kindergarten class...The Lady Cougars defeat host Buffalo Island Central to win the 2A-3 District Tournament and improve their record to 29-5 overall...Glen Sain wins its second straight Customer Satisfaction Leadership Award in General Motors' Memphis-New Orleans zone...Donald and Dollie Wagster are selected as Valentine King and Queen during Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation's annual party...Volunteers come together to host a fish fry at the Rector Community Center which raises $3,400 for required maintenance at the center...Marion Bracken and Jewell Crawford are crowned as the Bert E. Sigsby Senior Wellness Center's Valentine King and Queen...The Ebenezer Church, built in 1906, is destroyed by fire...Former Indian Princess Diane (Bucy) Freeman is among the past members of the ASU Indian Family honored during a special ceremony in Jonesboro welcoming the school's new Red Wolves mascot...Construction begins on the new high school wing and elementary multi-purpose building at the Marmaduke School District.

March

Local Girl Scouts visit residents to offer delicious treats during the Girl Scouts Walk fundraising event...Debra King joins the Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation staff as the facility's new director...The Rector community holds a departure ceremony for the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team prior to its mid-March return to Iraq...Several members of the Rector community read to elementary students during a "Read Across America" event coordinated by elementary Gifted and Talented teacher Candy Williams...The RHS Drama Department presents "And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank"...Rector Flowers begins offering online shopping...Drama students have the unique opportunity to meet with American Idol producer Diane Louie, who had recently purchased a farm near Pollard...Renowned gospel performers The Chuck Wagon Gang perform at the Rector Community Center...The Rector Public Library celebrates Dr. Seuss' birthday with singing, dancing and a visit from the Cat in the Hat...Gifted and Talented students Ben Petty, Allison Duncan, Kelsey Wynn and Casey Hollis attend the Arkansas Young Voter Month workshop at Little Rock to learn more about the voting process and its importance...Amanda Layer performs in the Poetry Out Loud contest in Little Rock...Local basketball players Hannah Parsley and Jackie Graham of Rector and Trent Smith and Chris Foresythe of Marmaduke are selected as All-State performers...Downtown Rector receives high marks in an evaluation during a visit from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program...County 4-H members are honored during their annual banquet...Terry Shultz is named the AMMC 2007 Employee of the Year.

April

Trudie Speer is named the 2008 Honored Lady by the Rector Woman's Club...The city's new www.rectorarkansas.com website, created by Brad Holland, offers a wealth of information to those seeking to learn more about Rector...Donald and Ella Jean Priest of Marmaduke celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary...Rector and Clay County Central alumni take part in an alumni basketball game to raise funds for the junior/senior prom...Junior high basketball players Tyler Kirklin, Allison Duncan and Heather Scott are named All-Conference...Rector native Paul Frets announces plans to hold a special art show during Labor Day and meets with RHS art students to view their work and offer encouragement and advice and samples of his own work...Ernie and Dorothy Chittick are named the Honored Survivors for the 2008 Clay County Relay For Life event...Richard Davies, executive director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, is the special guest speaker at the Rector Area Chamber of Commerce banquet...Buell and Janetta Shelton celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary...Marmaduke hosts the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus...The Marmaduke School District receives a check for $77,258 from the Baseball Tomorrow program sponsored by Major League Baseball for the construction of new baseball and softball fields...Haven Wilson and Cooper Rabjohn are crowned Little Miss and Little Mr. RHS...Rector is accepted into the Arkansas Downtown Network program, a part of the Main Street Arkansas program designed to help cities improve both economically and socially...The RHS stock Market team, including Malorie Tippitt, Ashley Williams, Emily Cornelison, Kirk Horton and Kristie Hardin, wins second place in the state competition with more than 1,100 teams taking part in the event...Northeast Arkansas feels the effects of a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in Mount Carmel, Ill...Mayor Ron Kemp meets with RHS Gifted and Talented students to stress the importance of their involvement in the community...Regions Bank undergoes major renovations...Dollar General opens its new store on Hwy. 49...Amber Christensen and Chelsea Benson earn second and third places, respectively, in the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute's Arts in the Air contest...Kasey Baker, Hayden McCluskey, Ryan LaRue, Jessica Scott and Zac Whteside are inducted into the RHS Gifted and Talented program...RHS FBLA students Allison Smart and Racheal Gipson win second in Desktop Publishing at the state FBLA contest...Rector's WRECK team takes part in the annual Clay County Relay for Life event, raising more than $9,000 for cancer research...The Cougar baseball team wins the 2A-3 District Tournament at Rector...MHS students raise money to send Morgan McPherson of Paragould to Washington, D.C., through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

May

The Rector City Council agrees to change its vicious dog ordinance after months of discussion and charges the police department with keeping a record of reports on dogs which show signs of being vicious...Harps donates $5,000 to the Helping Hands Foundation...Hundreds gather in downtown Rector to take part in the annual Mayfest celebration...Sixteen teams visit Rector's Jeremy McDaniel Memorial Sports Complex for the Class 2A State High School Softball Tournament, which brings hundreds of visitors to town...A crowd of over 200 gather at the Rector Arena to watch the second annual lawnmower races held by Jason Murray's small gas engines class...Rector softball and baseball players Sarah Fannin, Amber Haynes, Daniel Hester Alex Roofe and coach Nate Henderson share details of the game with students at James W. Graves Head Start during their annual Baseball Spring Training Week...Cougars Are BAD hosts a Ghost Out event with mock funerals to stress the importance of avoiding alcohol and drug use during the prom season...The Marmaduke Greyhound baseball teams earns a trip to the University of Arkansas' Baum Stadium for the state 3A Baseball Championship game and, though Marmaduke lost to Harding Academy in the finals, it was the first such trip for the school in its 99-year history...RHS graduates 43 in a ceremony in the school's gym with Stephanie Newman as valedictorian...Taylor Grayham is valedictorian of the Marmaduke class of 2008...Former Marmaduke School District employees Jerry Don McIntosh, Mike Graham and Mark Graham are indicted on charges of fraud against the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System...RHS and MHS students celebrate their proms with the respective themes of "Midnight in New York" and "Music of the Night"...Jackie Graham and Allison Smart are named as Prom King and Queen for RHS...Logan Hawley and Taylor Grayham are chosen as the MHS Prom King and Queen...ARI plant manager Jack Pipkin is acquitted of all charges in a federal case in which he was accused of being involved in the theft of heavy equipment...United Country Rector Realty is recognized at the United Country Real Estate Training and Awards Convention in Kansas City, Mo., with the Founder's Award for outstanding sales...RHS students are recognized for the academic achievements during the annual Honors Day assembly...Jackie Graham and Hannah Parsley are named RHS Athletes of the Year during the annual athletic banquet...Gerald McClung wins the race for Clay County sheriff and the results stand following a recount of the votes...RES sixth graders successfully complete the DARE program...The first annual Bluegrass in the Park brings bluegrass music to the Rector community in an event coordinated by Richard Earls.

June

The Rector City Council begins studying the possibility of annexing county residents into the city...Rector native and KAIT general manager Tim Ingram is a special guest speaker for the Rector Lions Club...Rector business and real estate owners meet with officials from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program to learn more about becoming part of the National Registry of Historic Places...Sarah Hester and her horse, Doc, win first place in horse judging at the Northeast Arkansas Regional 4-H Horse Show...Harps undergoes remodeling...Youngsters take part in basketball camps at both Rector and Marmaduke...Summer reading programs move into high gear at the Rector Public Library.