PAPER TRAILS: Magazine to highlight Arkansas jeweler Sissy Jones; Gladys Knight to perform in Little Rock

ARKANSAS JEWEL: Longtime jeweler Sissy Jones, founder of Sissy's Log Cabin, is one of three jewelers being inducted into National Jeweler magazine's Retailer Hall of Fame. She is being inducted in the category of multistore independent. The publication will release a special announcement issue in mid-May.

Jones founded her chain of four stores in 1970. Her first, a jewelry and antiques store in Pine Bluff, was established with $1,500 she borrowed from her aunt. Jones is only the second person to be inducted from Arkansas, following William Underwood of Underwood's Fine Jewelers in Fayetteville, who was inducted in 1991. Jones, who has been battling breast cancer recently, was previously named Retailer of the Year and given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women's Jewelry Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arkansas Jewelry Association.

SOUL STIRRING: Legendary pop, gospel, and R&B artist Gladys Knight is set to perform in Little Rock on April 3 at Robinson Performance Hall. Tickets for the seven-time Grammy winner's 8 p.m. show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Priced at $43, $58 and $68, tickets are being sold via phone at (501) 244-8800, online at ticketmaster.com, and in person at Celebrity Attractions/Robinson Performance Hall Box Office at 426 W. Markham St. Visit GladysKnight.com for more info.

TRAILBLAZER: Author and civil-rights activist Ruby Bridges, one of the first black children to integrate the New Orleans public school system in 1960, will visit Harding University's Benson Auditorium in Searcy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday as part of the university's Distinguished Lecture Series. Bridges is the inspiration behind Norman Rockwell's painting The Problem We All Live With and the Disney film Ruby Bridges. She has received several awards, including the Presidential Citizens Medal by then-President Bill Clinton. The event is free and open to the public. For more info, call (501) 279-4497.

PAGE TURNER: The American Society of Magazine Editors recently announced the 2017 finalists for one of its National Magazine Awards known as Ellies. Oxford American is among the five in the Essays and Criticism category honoring interpretative and critical journalism. The piece that is a finalist is Zandria F. Robinson's essay "Listening for the Country," which appeared in the magazine's 2016 music issue. Other publications nominated in the category are GQ, The Hedgehog Review, New York and The New York Times Magazine. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in New York on Feb. 7.

Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or lhaymes@arkansasonline.com

SundayMonday on 01/29/2017

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