With a background in government work and a love for the community in which she grew up, Jocelyn Cash said she is “ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work” on the Benton City Council. Cash, 65, was chosen from nine candidates who sought the Ward 2, Position 1 seat left by the council’s most senior member, Charles Cunningham, who died in April.
The candidates interviewed June 22 with the council’s Personnel Committee, and its No. 1 choice was presented to the full council Monday.
“We had several good candidates,” said Bill Donner, chair of the Personnel Committee. “Jocelyn really stood out with her enthusiasm, excitement and outgoing personality.”
Other candidates included Patricia Ashley, Glynda Brinsfield, Willie Floyd, Robin Freeman, Shane Knight, Leslie Kowalski, Quinn Marshall and Martha Slaughter.
Cash grew up in the Ralph Bunche community of Benton, then lived in other parts of the country because of her job with the U.S. Forest Service. She and her husband of 10 years, Norman Hurst, moved back to Benton in 2010 to be closer to her parents, W.K. and Jesteen Hannah — still her biggest cheerleaders, Cash said.
“Dad was sick and couldn’t come to the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, but Mother did, and she was just beaming,” Cash said.
Not new to public service, Cash is a commissioner on Benton’s Planning and Zoning Commission, a post she’s held since 2015. She applied for the Ward 2, Position 2 seat in 2010 after alderman Joe Lee Richard’s death, just six months after Cash moved back to Benton. Donner said he recalls Cash was his second choice then. Evelyn Reed was chosen for the position, which she still serves in today.
“Mr. Cunningham was a longtime friend of my family,” Cash said. “In fact, he taught me at Ralph Bunche School when it was still in existence. He has always been very influential to me. I know how well he was loved by the community and the council, and I’ll do my best to lead by the legacy he set forth. The Ralph Bunche community needs good representation like Cunningham provided.”
Each candidate was given six questions to answer during the interview process. What sticks out to Cash, she said, was the question asking her to identify the challenges for the city now and in the future.
“I said economic growth and housing and road needs, specifically in the Ward 2 area,”
she said. “There is a lot of economic growth going on in Benton, but on the higher end. We need more affordable housing and options.”
Cash noted that she has an advantage with one of her goals because she is retired. And that goal is to be available to the people of Ward 2.
“I want to hear from the people. Ward 2 is very spread out, and I’m concerned that the people’s voices aren’t being heard. I’m here to work for them, to listen to them. I can talk all day long about what I think the issues are, but I want to be an advocate for the people of my ward and, of course, the entire city.”
Cash graduated from Benton High School in 1969. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration later in life, in 1994, from Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a master’s degree in pubic administration two years later from Auburn University at Montgomery.
Before pursuing higher education, Cash worked in the U.S. Forest Service with her first husband, Bedford Cash, who died in a fire in 1994. She worked as a personnel officer for two national forests — the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego and a national forest in Montgomery. When asked her favorite place to live, she said enthusiastically, “San Diego — sun, sand and fun.”
It was during her time in Montgomery that Cash developed a passion for literacy advocacy. She worked for Trenholm Technical College as a GED instructor and adult literacy teacher.
“I still do it on an individual basis for people 18 years and older and specialize in functional literacy, where you can browse the newspaper, for example, but not really read it or comprehend.”
Cash left the college so that she and Hurst, who had lost his wife to multiple sclerosis, could pursue missionary work in Wyoming. From 2005 to 2010 before moving to Benton, she and her husband worked with the Dubois Church of Christ in Dubois, Wyoming, to host outreach classes on the reservations of the Shoshone and Arapaho Native American tribes.
“Having lived in Wyoming and around Indian culture, I became amazed at how simple, yet very artful, their lives were,” she said. “I gained a new appreciation for a culture and custom I had never experienced.”
Of six siblings, Cash is the oldest daughter and the next to oldest to her brother.
“I literally live across the street from our parents now and enjoy being here for them,” she said. “I’m a well-rounded person who likes knitting and doesn’t mind getting my hands dirty. If that means tearing down a wall or putting up Sheetrock or gardening, I’ll do it. I have three dogs and would have 10 if my husband said it was OK. And if the City Council had a dog committee, I would be on it.”