The story of Herby Branscum Jr.’s life could almost be written just by looking at the walls of his law office in Perryville.
Rows of framed photos — many of them inscribed with personal notes — are displayed of Branscum with former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, first lady Rosalynn Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale and Arkansas Gov. and Sen. Dale Bumpers, to name a few. Hanging with the pictures are plaques of recognition for serving on the Arkansas State Claims Commission for 11 years and the Arkansas Highway Commission for 10 years and as chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas for six years, along with citations for Branscum’s work in civic clubs and other organizations.
The 76-year-old will add to those accolades April 29 when he receives the University of Central Arkansas Distinguished Alumni Award. He will be honored at the UCA Night of Distinction at 6 p.m. at McCastlain Hall on campus.
“They reached the bottom of the bucket,” he said, laughing.
His self-deprecating humor belies the reputation he’s earned through gubernatorial appointments, his role in state and national political campaigns, savvy business deals and plain old hard work.
One of 11 children of Herby and Clara Branscum, Herby Branscum Jr. grew up on a 230-acre farm in Pleasant Hill, between Timbo and Fifty-Six in Stone County. Both his father and grandfather were Baptist ministers and state legislators.
Branscum attended a one-room school for a while, but consolidation created Timbo High School, where he graduated.
Branscum said his brother, Jerry, who is two years older, was his inspiration. Jerry got an education degree from Arkansas State Teachers College, now the University of Central Arkansas.
Before he wanted to be a lawyer, Branscum thought he’d major in forestry at Arkansas A&M in Monticello, now the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He was also the business manager for the student newspaper and wrote a column.
He also helped pay for college by working as a janitor in the forestry building, where he recalled spending 10 to 12 hours every week waxing and buffing the floors to a high shine.
He started making an impact on campus organizations, including being elected speaker of the Student Government Association.
As much as he loved the outdoors, “it didn’t take me long to realize the trees weren’t calling to me,” he said.
“I just liked meeting people and associating with people. I thought law would be a good fit,” he said. Branscum transferred to Arkansas State Teachers College.
He said the Conway campus had about 3,500 students.
“I probably knew every student on campus,” he said.
And he made a name for himself. He was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma and started the Young Democrats Club — which got him in a little hot water.
Branscum said then-ASTC President Silas Snow told him he should have asked the administration’s permission. Branscum also wrote a regular column called “On the Curb with Herb” for The Echo, the student newspaper.
“I got in trouble for writing a column criticizing the school,” he said. Branscum said he thinks the column was about the flack he got for starting the Young Democrats Club without permission.
Branscum was removed from the newspaper, but he didn’t have hard feelings about Snow or A.E. Burdick, vice president for academic affairs, both of whom turned out to be good friends of his.
After Branscum graduated in 1963, he went to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for one year, where he met fellow student David Pryor. Branscum transferred to the Arkansas Law School, now the Bowen School of Law at the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock, where he attended night classes and served two terms as a reading clerk in the Arkansas Senate. He passed the bar and in 1967 hung out his shingle in Little Rock with two other attorneys, Eugene Mazzanti and Paul Schmidt.
“I’d always had a real hankering for getting out and practicing law in a country town,”
he said.
In 1972, Branscum opened his solo practice in Perryville, which is the hometown of his wife, Billie Jo. He’d already been practicing one day a week in the town, and his mother-in-law said people were coming by her house looking for him, so he ought to open up an office there full time.
“It was pretty lonely the first year or so,” he said. That didn’t last long.
He and his wife joined the Baptist Church, and he got involved with the Lions Club and organized the Jaycee chapter in Perryville.
“I’ve enjoyed living in this little community,” he said. “You know, I just commiserated with people, and people commiserated with me. I spoiled them, and they, in turn, have taken care of me.”
Branscum explained that by “spoiling,” he meant he offered his services at a reasonable cost. “I never was real pricey,” he said.
He started his law firm in a former cafe that had belonged to his mother-in-law. His practice flourished. He tore down the old building, and in 1977, he built an office on the same property. He shares the building with his daughter, attorney Beth Burgess, who has a degree from UCA — as do his two sons, Chris and James, and his wife.
Burgess said she’s been in practice with her father since 2003, except for 18 months when she left to take a judgeship in Pulaski County.
Burgess, who is on the UCA Foundation Board of Directors, said her father is definitely deserving of the Distinguished Alumni Award.
“I appreciate, as an alum of UCA, what he’s done … being on the UCA Foundation Board over 10 years and the Board of Trustees. What I always admired is, when I was younger and he was on the board, he would attend every graduation he could, every football game, so I enjoyed going with him and getting to enjoy those events with him,” she said.
Burgess also pointed out the impact he’s made through the Herby Branscum Jr. Scholarship, which was established about 18 years ago.
“He’s tried to help students who were maybe first-generation students from Stone or Perry County,” she said. “I admire the fact that he grew up like he did and was able to put himself through school and achieve what he’s been able to.”
Everywhere Burgess goes, people ask if she’s Branscum’s daughter, she said, and they tell her a story about him, whether it’s from a court case, politics or the Jaycees.
Burgess said she is “amazed” at the number of people in Perry
County, and even the state, who still come to her father for
advice.
As far as the law practice, “he’s a wealth of knowledge,” Burgess said. “Herby is one of the best attorneys I have ever worked with. He works hard for his clients and genuinely enjoys practicing law.”
Branscum helped create the district court system in Perryville and served as district judge from 1976-82.
“You got to see the problems of a lot of people. It broadened your dimension about humanity,” he said. However, “I never had that real burning desire to be a full-time judge.”
In 1974, then-Gov. Bumpers, for whom Branscum had campaigned, appointed him to the State Claims Commission, where he served for 11 years.
“I got to see some big lawyers,” he said, including future Gov. Mike Beebe and and former Gov. Sid McMath.
“I really enjoyed that; we really worked hard,” Branscum said.
Branscum had a passion for politics, but not a desire to be a candidate. He was encouraged to run against Winston Bryant for lieutenant governor, and Branscum briefly considered it, but he preferred being behind the scenes.
“I got to see the glorious years and the down years from a partisan standpoint,” he said.
He said he formed relationships with all the politicians because “they knew I was a loyal person.”
Branscum was also appointed in 1986 by then-Gov. Clinton, another politician whom Branscum helped elect, to the UCA Board of Trustees. Branscum worked on every campaign Clinton ever ran, including his failed attempt in 1974 for Congress when Perry County was one of only two counties that Clinton won.
“I thought he was destined to be president,” Branscum said. “Dale Bumpers was a great politician and David Pryor, but not on the scale of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton lived politics and was a natural at it,” adding that Clinton’s memory for names was unsurpassed.
Branscum said that when they were flying in a one-engine plane from Fayetteville to Little Rock one night, Clinton leaned over and pointed to the ground below. “He’d say, ‘You know where we are? That’s Mulberry right there,’ and he’d name the members of the City Council,” Branscum said.
Branscum was on the UCA board that hired former UCA President Winfred Thompson, who served from 1988-2001.
Thompson, who lives in Conway, said he thinks highly of Branscum.
“He was always a very dedicated member of the board; I valued his advice and his friendship. I spent many hours talking with him; I’d go over to his office in Perryville,” Thompson said, to update Branscum on university issues. “I generally found him a wonderful board member to work with.”
Branscum had to resign from the UCA board when Clinton appointed him in 1991 to the five-member Arkansas Highway Commission, and he served for 10 years.
“That’s really the only thing I hotly pursued,” Branscum said of the seat. “If Clinton wanted to repay me for all the yeoman tasks I’d done during the political campaign, that would be one. It’s a premier appointment in the state.”
The commission was responsible for about $250 million in construction over the 10-year term.
“We did Highway 167 from Bald Knob up to Batesville, four-laning it,” he said. “We did a lot of improvements on Highway 60.”
When Branscum’s term on the highway commission was over, “I said I’d done it all,”
he said.
Banking was another big part of Branscum’s career.
In the 1980s, he and Rob Hill bought Perry County Bank, which had $25 million to
$27 million in assets, from a couple who lived in Wynne. The men were on the board, and the couple offered the bank to them first. “I said, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Rob.’ I said, ‘We’ll never have this opportunity again.’ We shot them a price, and they shot us a counteroffer. When we saw the counteroffer, we knew we were going to
acquire [the bank].”
The name was later changed to Chart Bank, and in 2008, it was purchased by Farmers and Merchant Bank.
“We’d grown it to like $137 million,” he said.
Branscum and Hill, along with several businessmen in Conway, got the charter for First Community Bank, now First Security Bank. Three years later, Branscum sold his interest in the bank.
“Banking was real good for us,” he said.
But it’s the country-lawyer role he’s had for 50 years that he’s enjoyed the most.
Branscum said someone once asked him why he didn’t retire and “do what he likes
to do.”
“I said, ‘I like working.’ I probably see three to four people on some sort of situation every day,” he said.
A small-town lawyer has to be a jack-of-all-trades, Branscum said. He handles just about every kind of law except tax law, bankruptcies and securities.
“One of the most pleasurable things I experience is when I complete some endeavor for someone, and they are satisfied and happy with the results,” he said. “Referrals are the next pleasurable thing.”
His reputation precedes him, even from people who don’t know about those photos of high-profile people on his walls.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.