Local Students Receive Foundation Awards At UofA

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

— Two students from Gravette who are students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas have been awarded scholarships by the Arkansas Farm Bureau for the 2009-2010 school year.

Kayla Boling, an apparel studies major, and William Nathan Tapp III, and animal sciences major, have each received $2,000 awards in memory of Romero E. Short from a foundation by that name.

Boling, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Danny Boling, graduated from Gravette High School in 2008.

Tapp, whose parents are Mr. and Mrs.WilliamTapp II, is a 2006 graduate of GHS.

The scholarships are among ten awarded in memory of Short, who was a founding member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau in 1935. He was also assistant secretary of agriculture in the U. S. Department of Agriculture and was vice president of the American Farm Bureau.

Other recipients include another Benton County student, Adam Ash, an agri business major from Pea Ridge.

Devotional Written

By Former Resident

In Upper Room Guide

Readers of the pocketsize daily devotional guide “The Upper Room” were inspired by the daily devotion that appeared last Monday, November 30, in the publication.

The two-paragraph devotional message, entitled “A Christmas Joy”, which quoted a Scripture from the book of Mark was written by a Gravette native who now makes his home in Colorado.

Jack Ballard, the son of the late Stokes and Chloe Ballard of Gravette, is a retired Air Force Colonel and instructor at the U. S. Air Force Academy. He grew up in Gravette and graduated from Gravette High School before servingin the military.

The devotional in the internationally distributed booklet quotes Jesus’ words to his disciples, “”Truly I tell you, this widow has put in more than all those whoare contributing to the treasury.” (Mark 12:43 NRSV ).

Ballard compared the “widow’s mite” Scripture with his observations during many years of operating Salvation Army kettle stations. “I noticed that people who gave the most were ones who seemed to be the poorest and their beaming countenance reflected their joy in giving. . . . . . . . . . “

He continued: “Yes, giving, however small the amount, can bring us a bright face and a soaring spirit.”

Ballard and his wife Arleda make their home in Littleton. He is author of a biography aboutGravette’s World War I Air Ace, Captain Field Kindley, entitled “War Bird Ace”. Copies of that book can be seen at the Gravette Historical Museum.

News, Pages 2 on 12/09/2009