In a small, tight-knit community, many residents wear more than one hat. For example, Curt Decker of Mountain View can be seen in the teller line at Citizens Bank. He might also be seen fighting fires and organizing community events in his role as Mountain View fire chief. As a justice of the peace, he has performed more weddings than he can count, and his voice can be heard on KWOZ 103.3 as the color commentator for the Mountain View Yellow Jackets football team.
“Anything I can do in the community that helps people, I want to be a part of it,” he said.
Decker’s family has deep roots in Mountain View. A picture hanging in Citizens Bank shows his grandmother Mae Hinkle Decker at the 1949 dedication of the war memorial in front of the Stone County Courthouse. Her brother Alfred Hinkle was killed in World War I, and his name is on the memorial.
“Our heritage goes deep here,” Curt Decker said. “Our families have been here since they came in on flatboats on the river. The other part of my heritage is Shawnee Indian on my mother’s side, which has been here a long time. My family has a lot of ties here.”
In high school, Decker was involved in FFA, shot for the photography staff for the yearbook and played football as a nose guard.
“Other than that, I was just one of the guys,” he said.
After graduation, he moved to Conway to attend the University of Central Arkansas. He started out thinking he would be a schoolteacher but ended up in the sociology department, which led him to a career in law enforcement.
“I transferred into the sociology department because of Dr. Carl Redden,” Decker said. “He was the head of the department, and I got some really good advice from him, and I decided to seek a career in law enforcement.”
When Decker graduated with a sociology degree, he became a state probation parole officer, which he said gave him a chance to dissolve some of his college loans. He worked as a probation parole officer for seven years, and the job gave him a way to get back to Mountain View.
“Then I left that to become a director of a child care center,” he said. “My wife was in child care for 28 years. … I did that for 4 1/2 years and volunteered as a football coach during that period of time.”
Decker said his roommate from his freshman year of college was from Batesville but went to Mountain View to be the head football coach. That is how Decker got to be an assistant coach for those 4 1/2 years.
Ten years ago, Decker was offered a job at Citizens Bank. He has been there ever since, and he said he loves talking to everyone who comes through the doors.
“My favorite part about banking is the people,” he said. “I’m a people person. This is an opportunity to visit with people, learn about their lives. The sociologist comes out. Anything I’m doing, as long as people are involved, I love doing it.”
Decker served as a justice on the Stone County Quorum Court for 10 years, and because of that, he was grandfathered in to be able to continue officiating at weddings.
“There are months when I do two or three a week here at the bank,” he said. “They drop in and say, ‘Would you perform my wedding?’ I can’t tell you how many I’ve done over 10 years.”
Decker said he thinks it’s been about six years since he started as a color commentator for the Mountain View Yellow Jackets football team.
“One of our bank employees in Batesville was asked to do [play-by-play commentating], and he wanted a color commentator to assist him,” he said. “The guy who was doing it at the time left for something else, so he asked me to do it. I’ve been doing it now and have been through three play-by-play people.”
Decker said he has fun being off the cuff with his commentary, and he is thankful for solid play-by-play partners who can take care of the more technical aspects of the commentary.
“I am by no means a sports expert,” he said. “It’s more for fun for me.”
Decker is also a third-generation firefighter, serving as fire chief in the Mountain View Fire Department, which his grandfather Curtis L. “Buster” Decker helped start in 1936. When Curt Decker’s father retired from the department, Curt stepped in and has served ever since.
“The Fire Department, to me, is the most important volunteer thing I do,” he said. “My family has 80 years in this department. Our community means a lot to us. We had a devastating fire here in 1936, and that’s what helped get the Fire Department together. Back then, they had a fire brigade, and everyone got there with buckets of water. My grandfather, along with other members of the community, got together and put together the Fire Department.”
Because of his role in the Fire Department and his history in law enforcement, Decker was chairman of the Law Enforcement Committee when he was on the
Quorum Court.
“We all pull together and work together,” he said.
He helps with the city’s annual fireworks show as a pyrotechnic shooter, raises money for the holiday lights that the police chief puts together every year and is involved with the Officer Santa program, which also involves Shop With a Cop and the Angel Tree program.
“I’m a behind-the-scenes guy,” he said.
Decker and his wife, Brenda, will celebrate 31 years of marriage in June. He said they were boyfriend and girlfriend in the first grade, started dating seriously in high school and got married after their first year of college.
“We’ve been together forever,” he said.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.