By Jennifer Riley Stewart
Webster’s defines "hero" as "a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities." Heroes come in many forms, ranging from family and friends to athletes and movie stars. Sadly, in today’s world the prior is replacing the latter. Long lost are the true small-town heroes that I grew up with. Teachers, doctors, nurses, soldiers, mechanics, repair men, little league coaches, Girl Scout leaders and Ministers were the people we interacted with every day, and by their example we learned to become caring citizens and to put others’ needs before our own.
Growing up in Mena, teachers were probably the biggest influence on me. Laverne Kelly was both my first grade and Sunday school teacher. As her Obituary read “she was a lady of faith and love for her family. She was a follower of Jesus Christ and lived her life serving the Lord. She loved working with young people and being a wonderful example of a Godly educator.” It was just impossible to be in her presence and not love and admire her.
Ask anyone from my generation who were the best teachers encountered, and almost all would name James Lynn and Joe Mannon. Mr. Lynn made sure every middle school child left his class with a college level science background. Everyone I know can still quote the definition of inertia, identify a venomous snake, and correctly spell dessert and desert. Joe Mannon made History come to life, and as one classmate recently shared with me, “he got so excited about History that he made us excited about it.” He was such an influence over me that I majored in History in college.
Family was a big influence on me growing up in Mena. I remember my dad, Clark Riley, getting up in the middle of the night to answer service calls for local businesses. They insisted they must have air conditioning before they could open for business the next morning. He told me these midnight service calls allowed him to perform service calls for the elderly free of charge. He knew they were on a pension and couldn’t afford a service call.
Sadly, during the last two years Mena has lost too many of these men and women – role models dedicated to the community – to the Pandemic as well as unfortunate accidents. This is how the journey to this Memorial Scholarship Fund started – thinking through the impact of those lost and how best to memorialize the people that meant so much to the lives of so many.
The list is far too long to name everyone, but these are the ones who touched my life and left a lasting impression on me. The first thoughts started last fall with the passing of two people that played huge roles in my early life – Allen Stewart and Shelton Bohlman (yes, he did have a last name unbeknownst to most of us!).
Allen and his wife Mary played a huge part in my young life, and always made me feel loved and welcomed in their home. Allen’s smile, quick wit, and good-natured ways made him loved by everyone who knew him. I loved listening to his Navy stories but his duty to community and country didn’t stop at his military service. He volunteered hundreds of hours as a founding member of the Board Camp Fire Department, President and State Board member of the Farm Bureau, the Soil Conservation Board, and the National Beef Council.
Shelton probably touched the life of everyone in Mena along the way. My generation grew up with him as the unofficial town babysitter. Every parent in town could call the Cone N Cue and he would know where their teen was at any time day or night – much to the chagrin of many of us! Later, he became a florist specializing in beautiful arrangements for weddings, funerals and holidays - often delivering the flowers himself along with one of his delicious homemade pies to offer congratulations or condolences.
As the year rolled on, so did the unfortunate news of lost loved ones – Larry McMellon, DeeDee Riley (my aunt), Jesse Cogburn, Cathy Anderlee, Marilyn Maxwell, Snapper Carpenter, Patrick Greene, Vernon Hampton and too many others. All were leaders in their own way, and examples of a couple immediately come to mind.
Larry McMellon was a Mena native and MHS graduate. While at MHS he lettered in seven sports. His love of Bearcat sports was so great he could be found at MHS games long after his son Rob had graduated. In recent years he could be found cheering on his grandsons at MHS events. Larry worked for the phone company in Mena for 33 years and in the day of land lines was a hero to many. When the line went dead, we knew “The Phone Guy” would be right over to fix it. In later years, Larry volunteered as greeter at The Depot Museum which allowed him to share his vast history of Mena with visitors. He was one of the founding members of the Freedom Water Association which brought fresh drinkable water to residents living out Hwy 375. Rob considers it one of Larry’s greatest accomplishments, saying that he spent years going door to door getting people to agree to let pipes be laid across their property.
In many ways, like her good friend Shelton, DeeDee Riley kept track of everything going on around town and touched so many lives just by going about hers. A visit to her shop for a haircut was an adventure. You left with a haircut, a new story, life advice and usually a new dirty joke. Through the many comments after her passing, we have discovered that everyone in Mena has a DeeDee story.
Like so many, I usually send a donation to a charity in memory of a loved one instead of flowers, but often those gifts leave the community and seem to fade away with time. I wanted something that would stay in Mena and honor the generous spirits and memories of our citizens. With the help of Mena High School Principal David Maxwell, we decided to create the “Hometown Hero Memorial Scholarship” at MHS to provide something for the future generations of Mena leaders.
My experience as a parent and volunteer has been that hard-working students in the middle of the class rankings are oftentimes overlooked even though they have the same or better work ethic as peers at the top of the class making all A’s. That grit and determination has often been the impetus to help students rise up, work their way through obtaining a college degree, and move on to great things where they end up giving back to the community in so many ways.
This observation led me to the inspiration for creating the guidelines for this scholarship which is two hometown farm boys - Robbie McMellon and David Maxwell – who were my classmates and lifelong friends. Neither were honor students and as Rob admitted to me it was fair to say they really showed up everyday for the sports and the girls. However, they both had an amazing work ethic and never gave up. Former Rich Mountain Community College leader Jack Smith and others encouraged them to continue their education and go to college. They decided they would go to college together and be roommates. They flipped a coin to pick which college to attend. Henderson State won and they both attended and received degrees in Education.
David has continued his education obtaining his Educational Specialist degree. and working as a teacher, coach, and Principal. He returned home as the Principal at MHS while continuing to ranch and work his family’s farm at Ink. Robbie returned to Mena and went to work at the airport doing modification and recovery on airplanes. He founded R&C Aviation and employed as many as seventeen people before selling the business to retire and spend his days farming, ranching, and volunteering with all the many sports his sons play. Both men show the true spirit of this scholarship by pursuing a college education, never giving up and returning to Mena to become leaders in the community and role models for a new generation.
The Hometown Hero Scholarship has been founded at MHS so that local citizens can donate in memory of their loved ones, classmates, and mentors. The money stays in Mena to help a student who otherwise would not get a scholarship. For the first year the chosen student will receive $500 for the first semester and $500 for the second semester if they maintain a 2.0 grade average. The hope is to build the fund, so we can eventually increase the fund and provide more in the future. The scholarship is good for any college or trade school that the student chooses. The hope is that the student will return to Mena after college and become a leader and mentor to others.
I want to thank the people who helped make this a reality: Scott Stewart, David Maxwell, The MHS Scholarship Committee, and the Donors.
To donate mail a check to Mena High School made out to Hometown Hero Memorial Scholarship to donate to the fund. Please include who your donation is in memory of so we can notify the family.