Dallas Oliver Bump embraced the old-style way three generations of his family before him used to make rocking chairs so much that he handmade his own chairs for more than 80 years.
Bump, who made rocking chairs in his shop in Bear in Garland County, never used nails or glue. He instead relied on precise cuts to ensure the pieces fit perfectly.
His chairs were so popular that former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton received one upon his presidential inauguration. Another of his chairs is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Bump, 98, died Saturday in a Hot Springs hospital from pneumonia. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ruby "Amelia" Orrell Bump, in 2007 and his son, Charles Bump.
He is survived by three daughters: Linda Usdrowski of Royal; Nancy Adams of Richmond, Ky.; and Kathy Abbett of Missouri.
"He was a peaceful, soft-spoken man," Usdrowski said of her father. "He was not the disciplinarian in the house, but you always wanted to please him.
"He had a tender heart."
Bump was born in the Bear community, west of Hot Springs near Lake Ouachita. He began making chairs at the Bump Chair Shop in Bear when he was 13 after first trying to avoid working there. His grandfather began the business in 1870, making chairs in a small barn.
Bump began his career there by putting water in the engines used to turn the wood lathe his father, Fred Oliver Bump, used to turn the posts for the rocking chairs.
Eventually, Bump began turning the small posts -- the dowels for the arms and legs -- on the wood lathe. But it wasn't until his father retired years later before Bump was able to make the long posts used for the chairs' backs.
"Grandpa was such a perfectionist," said Bump's granddaughter, Sandra Taylor of Fayetteville. "If a chair wasn't perfect, he wouldn't sell it."
Bump left the chair business briefly to work for Caterpillar in Seneca, Ill., but returned to Arkansas to raise his family. He also worked as a mail carrier in Garland County.
But he is best known for his chairs.
In 2013, the Arkansas Arts Council named him an Arkansas Living Legend.
"He was a remarkable person dedicated to his craft," said Robin McClea, the artist services program manager for the council. "He valued what he learned from his father and grandfather and carried it on."
In a video about Bump made by the Historic Arkansas Museum, Bump's nephew, Leon Sutton, recalls his uncle's workmanship and dedication.
"He said, 'I need something to turn to keep me going,'" Sutton said in the video, referring to Bump's love of using the wood lathe.
Bump also was known for his rich stories about life in Garland County, regaling visitors to his shop with his tales.
He would work in the small barn near his home and was often surprised when people would stop in to watch him, Usdrowski said.
"He would talk about how his grandfather used to take the ferry and walk to a tree stump where he'd leave the money for moonshine," Usdrowski said. "He'd talk about his family. He had so many stories."
Hot Springs photographer Todd Sadowski shot pictures of Bump and his business for a family book.
"It was like a blast from the past walking in his shop," Sadowski said. "He and that building fit. He could navigate around that. I'd walk in and bump into everything there.
"He said the only advice he would give was to 'do what is right.'"
Although family members said Bump wasn't overly affectionate, they all knew they were loved by Bump.
"Whenever things were bad in my life, I came home," Taylor said. "I always felt loved.
"He loved Bear, and he loved his family. We all knew we were so loved. We knew so much about who we are, and we all feel so connected because of him."
State Desk on 07/19/2016