A WALK IN THE PARK: David Compton, Jr., is significant player in Decatur history

— This week I will continue my series on the Compton Family who moved to western Benton County many years ago.

Due to the family’s knack for preserving history in a variety of forms, including old photographs, letters, newspaper clippings and personal accounts jotted down in writing tablets, elements of their story can be pieced together quite well. This information has all been donated to the University of Arkansas Library (Special Collections) by Ellen Compton, a great granddaughter of the Compton couple who first moved to our area in the late 1800s. Over the years since then, significant acts of service by Compton family members have resulted in continued impact on the area. I will touch on some of thesecontributions.

In my last writing, I shared the story, as told to me by Ms. Compton, of her great grandparents, David Sr. and Mary Haller Compton, and their lives in the Orchard/Gentry area. They made their home on land that is now the Gentry Wild Wilderness Drive-through Safari,where they managed to live mostly off the land while also providing their four children extensive homeschool instruction in a wide range of subject areas, including several foreign languages. Based on my review of just a small portion of material from the University of Arkansas Library and other information provided by Ms. Compton, I will continue this week by recounting some achievements of the couple’s fourth son, Dave Jr., and his family.

In 1911 Dave Jr. married a local Gentry (Falling Springs) area girl, Ida Wilmoth (aunt of the late Ross Wilmoth, who with his wife Freda established the drive-through safari).Ida was the daughter of Charles and Sarah Roberts Wilmoth and had, as a small child, accompanied her father on trips with his portable mill into Indian Territory on the Illinois River. Little Ida, it seems, was a favorite with the Cherokee women in the vicinity. She likely acquired some of her knowledge and appreciation of things of nature during the time spent with these women. They admired her long hair, and this mayhave been what influenced her to continue to let it grow throughout her lifetime, as recalled by her granddaughter.

During their early years of marriage, Dave Jr. and Ida made their home on the second home site on the Compton (Safari) property. Dave Jr. made a living as a rural mail carrier for the post office located at Falling Springs and also farmed part-time. The couple raised two children, Neil and Edra, while living on the farm. In 1923 the family moved to Bentonville where Dave Jr. was elected county and probate judge. He lost his second election and they moved back to the farm.He ran again and won for several more terms, during which time the family lived back in Bentonville. After his years as county judge, David Jr. was the postmaster for a time. He and Ida went to California for a while and he worked in shipping near San Francisco. By this time son Neil was stationed there. Dave Jr. and Ida moved back to Bentonville, where Ida died in 1945. David Jr. later married Rose Clem and they moved to Siloam Springs. Sometime later Dave Jr. moved to Decatur, where he continued to assist his former friends and neighbors in community-changing ways.

During the 1950s he became director of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce. When businessesin the town declined and began closing their doors it was feared that the town would die. Compton partnered with Lloyd Peterson to establish the Decatur Development Company and obtained money for a new poultry processing plant. This resulted in the employment of 65 people. The economic development in the Decatur area continued at a rapid pace, with the building of an airport and a sale barn, opening Decatur State Bank, and the beginning of publication of the Decatur Herald newspaper.

Improvements were also made to the city’s streets and water and sewer services. All this took place within just a couple of years, and this garnered Decatur attention in anational community development contest.

An article from the Tulsa Daily World reported that a delegation of eleven citizens, headed by Jack Wilmoth and Dave Compton, traveled to Kansas City to attend the All American City Selection sessions where the final winner would be determined. According to the newspaper report, “Compton stole the show with his whimsical 10-minute, completely unrehearsed speech, earnestly delivered in a manner that held the audience spell bound and brought the sleepy jurors to life. His speech and the simplicity of its delivery drew an avalanche of applause.”

Decatur, the smallest town in the competition, earned a spot on the national map when Look magazine and National Municipal League honored it with the All American City Award on February 4, 1955.

I plan to wrap up this series in my next article by highlighting the life of Dave Jr. and Ida’s son, Dr. Neil Compton, who, among other significant accomplishments, championed the crusade to protect what is arguably Arkansas’ most scenic landscape.

Annette Rowe is a freelance writer from rural Gentry and a speech-language pathologist at Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 6 on 06/20/2012