Johnnie Roebuck

Retired Arkadelphia educator, politician remembers life of devotion

Johnnie Roebuck, a retired Henderson State University assistant professor, is shown at her home in Arkadelphia.
Johnnie Roebuck, a retired Henderson State University assistant professor, is shown at her home in Arkadelphia.

Living on a farm and being a country girl were never novel things for Johnnie Roebuck, not from her perspective, anyway. Her friends found novelty in Roebuck’s identity, though. Her friends begged to stay the night with her, to stay at the farm.

She never lost that identity, either. Even after earning a doctorate, working as an educator for 40 years and serving in the Arkansas House of Representatives, Roebuck kept those early days close to her heart, and they informed her tireless efforts to improve opportunities for the less-fortunate and to provide education.

“All my friends wanted to come home with me because I lived on a farm, and I knew how to drive a tractor,” Roebuck said. “And we would explore the woods.”

Although the Roebuck family all shared chores on the farm, the main goal was education for the kids. The family was also very active in a local church.

Because of the children’s 8-mile distance from school, their bus ride was a long one. Roebuck rode the bus to and from school for 13 years, until she graduated from high school.

“My mother, particularly, told me that education was very, very important and that I needed to go to college,” Roebuck said. “So I was lucky enough to get a loan, a Student Defense Loan in 1960. I wouldn’t have been able to go without that help.”

Roebuck worked at the school library, beginning in junior high school. Eventually, she worked part time at the city library in high school, as well. So she began as a library science major at Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, when she started college in 1960. Soon, her interest shifted to journalism, and she began work on the school newspaper. That summer, she took journalism courses at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. She then decided she would transfer to Texas Woman’s University in Denton, which was known for its journalism program.

“I left on the train from Memphis and had never been to Texas and never been on a train. Then I decided that I wanted to major in social work and sociology. So that’s what I did, and I also got my teaching license in history at the same time,” she said.

Although she had to take a lot of courses for the different majors, she finished her degree in four years. She would later receive a master’s degree in education from Arkadelphia’s Henderson State University in 1974. She received two degrees from the University of Arkansas: an Education Specialist degree in 1988 and a Doctorate of Education degree in 1990.

After graduating in 1964, Roebuck went to work as a probation officer.

“I grew up in church, working in the nursery and working in Sunday School. I loved working with younger children and helping. After I was a probation officer for a while, I decided that I wanted to go into teaching. I wanted to really make a difference with the kids in school because every child that I talked to and worked with in the courts would tell me about their experiences in the school, and they weren’t always good experiences,” she said.

So Roebuck began making use of her teaching degree and never looked back. She worked in special education until 1990, when she became an assistant professor of education and continued in that position until she retired in 2007 to focus on her work in the state House of Representatives.

“Everything that we tried to do when I was in the Legislature was making quality education available to every child,” Roebuck said. “My husband was our state representative, and he was term-limited, when we had six-year term limits. I certainly tried to get a lot of folks to run, but it all started to turn back to me. It seems like everybody would turn their finger and point it at me and say, ‘It’s your turn.’”

Roebuck eventually became the majority leader in 2010, and she retired two years later. She now owns a consulting business that she runs from home called Managerial Leadership Concepts. Roebuck has also published books, including a book of poetry titled Celebrate the Temporary.

Throughout her career, public service has been close to Roebuck’s heart. She has worked to find a way to give children equal opportunities. It all goes back to her upbringing on the farm, where she focused on education and hard work, and where she obliged her friends so that everyone could be happy.

“I never thought it was fun, but they all did,” Roebuck said of staying on the farm with her school friends. “So, I would try to swap out and say, ‘You can come home with me if I can go home with you the next weekend.’”

Even at a young age, Roebuck was trying to find balance.

Now she helps manage the tenants at the Chateau Apartments in Arkadelphia, where she and her husband live, or heads to the lake house in Hot Springs to get some consulting work done. She has found balance.

Upcoming Events