Kindley painting presented at 'After Hours' event

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

— About 45 people attended a “Gravette After Hours” get-together earlier this month at the Gravette Historical Museum.

The event is one of several arranged through the Chamber of Commerce for local business and professional people, as well as interested citizens, to meet informally in a social atmosphere.

Lavon Stark, who coordinated the refreshments, members of the museum commission and others provided an array of finger foods, hot cider and coffee for refreshments, which those attending enjoyed while viewing displays in the entry hall. They later toured the Kindley House, which houses furniture and other items from the early-day Gravette era.

Painting Presented

A highlight of the meeting was the presentation of an oil painting of Captain Field E. Kindley, World War I air ace, who spent much of his childhood in the home and forwhom Kindley Memorial Park is named.

Kindley, who died in a plane crash at an airfield in Texas in 1919, was later honored when an airfield in Bermuda was named Kindley Field. That designation continued until the field was redesignated in 1970, when the oil painting was shipped to Gravette.

For safe keeping and viewing by the public, the oil painting has been displayed in the Bank of Gravett. David Wills, bank president, presented the framed portrait to John Lee Mitchael, representing the museum commission.

Also present for the brief ceremony was Gary Phipps, Gravette resident who is a third/fourth cousin of Captain Kindley. Phipps, who is a former Gravette mayor, provided some historical information about the air ace.

During the evening, Mitchael presented a brief history of the museum, how and when the Kindley home was acquired and the progress of the museum’s expansion.

News, Pages 13 on 10/24/2012