Mark Allison’s passion for music can be traced to a Sunburst Stratocaster guitar he left behind in Africa in 1974.
The son of missionaries, Allison spent much of his childhood in Kenya. His father gave him the electric guitar — along with a Fender amplifier — during his junior year in high school. Allison stripped all of the finish off of it and painted it red, white and blue.
A self-described “decent musician,” Allison’s hobby now is running sound and lighting for other performers. So when he and his wife, Becky, were asked to co-chair the March 14 Evolve Gala for Centers for Youth and Families, the couple chose “Sing!” as the theme.
Centers began as the Children’s Aid Society in 1885 — making it the oldest continuously operating nonprofit in Arkansas. In 1907, it became the Little Rock Orphans’ Home. Forty years later, it morphed into the Elizabeth Mitchell Memorial Home. In 1987, it merged with the Junior League of Little Rock Parent Center and Stepping Stone and became known as Centers for Youth and Families.
“I’m glad to be associated with it because of their longevity, which I think is a real important thing these days,” says Allison, who is a member of the Centers’ board of directors. “Institutions are institutions for a reason. They outlive us and provide some continuity for society.”
While Allison’s side gig is sound and lighting, in his daytime job he is a partner at Dover Dixon Horne, specializing in environmental and regulatory litigation. But it took awhile for the kid from Africa to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up.
OUT OF AFRICA
Allison is the oldest child of Alta and Clarence Allison. His father was the pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Junction City and Allison was born in 1957 at the nearest hospital in El Dorado. By the time he was 3, the family made its first missionary tour to Tanganyika (now known as Tanzania). Allison has vague memories of crossing the Atlantic Ocean by ship to Greece and then flying to Tanganyika.
The family spent about a year and a half in the capital city of Dar es Salaam — where his sister was born — before being transferred to western Tanganyika. By 1963, the missionary tour was over and the family moved to Arkadelphia where Clarence became pastor of Park Hill Baptist Church and taught history at Ouachita Baptist University. Alta also worked at OBU.
In 1969, the family returned to Kisumu, Kenya. Allison was in the eighth grade and was sent to boarding school at the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya. There he met the children of other U.S. missionaries as well as kids from all over Africa and the world.
The academy is about 50 miles from where Out of Africa was shot. The 1985 movie, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, won the Academy Award for best picture in 1986.
He is frequently asked by curious friends about his time in Africa.
“People ask me that like it is really weird, but it was just growing up,” he says. “We had about 74 people in my graduating class and I would say half of them came back to the United States or wherever they were originally from and probably half of them stayed in Africa.”
But not all childhoods included eating wildebeest or planting a class flag at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
“THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO”
One of Allison’s favorite childhood memories is from hunting on the plains of Africa with his father and other families. They would hunt for wildebeest, impalas and gazelles. The hunters would take tents and spend a week in the middle of the plains.
“I remember it tasted great, but that was a long time ago,” he says of wildebeest.
As a graduation present, Allison’s parents gave him a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro. He went on the trip with several other students from Rift Valley. It took the group three days to climb up the mountain and two days to make it back down.
The group was assisted by guides and porters. At 3 a.m. on the third day, they made their last ascent and watched the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. After reaching the highest point, Allison planted his senior class of ’74 flag.
“Hemingway says there’s a frozen leopard up there. I didn’t find a frozen leopard,” he says. Ernest Hemingway opens his 1936 short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by mentioning a leopard carcass near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
After graduation, Allison’s family was transferred to Paris. With no plans, he followed them. That’s when he had to leave behind his prized Sunburst Stratocaster and Fender amp.
In the spring of 1975, Allison returned to Arkansas and enrolled at Ouachita Baptist University — selecting it because his parents had once worked there. He met his future wife, Becky, when they both performed in college theater.
Married since 1978, the Allisons like to say the union merged “two fine record collections.” When they married, the only albums they owned in common were by Captain & Tennille and Led Zeppelin.
“He had grown up overseas and so he had a kind of different world view and I appreciated that,” Becky says. “He was always really, really smart, and he had a pretty even temperament. And he kind of looked like Al Pacino back in the day, think of Al Pacino in Serpico — that unkempt ’70s look. And he played the guitar. You’ve got to fall for the musician.”
After graduating from OBU, Becky got a job as a receptionist at KLAZ radio station in Jonesboro and quickly moved up to on-air news. Allison still didn’t know what he wanted to do professionally, so he enrolled at Arkansas State University to obtain a master’s degree in history. He wrote his thesis about the mission that ran Rift Valley Academy. As a sideline, he sold shoes at a store in Jonesboro.
“It was not what I decided to do with my life,” he says.
Meanwhile, Becky got a job as a reporter and later weekend anchor at KAIT-TV in Jonesboro. Allison doesn’t remember why he decided to go to law school, but he enrolled at what is now the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The couple had a “commuter marriage” during that time, he says.
Becky says she remembers why her husband went to law school — she encouraged it. “I think it was my idea,” she says. “I have this liberal arts guy, and I knew what his skill set was and he is so smart and such a good reader, and I just knew he would be good at it.”
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Allison earned his law degree in 1985 and took a position at what is now Dover Dixon Horne. Early in his career, he found his specialty.
“I was in the right place at the right time. We had an environmental issue that came up in the law firm and I got to work on it,” he says. “The rest is history.”
Regarded by many of his colleagues as one of the leading environmental lawyers in Arkansas, he is frequently asked to speak on environmental concerns to local and national organizations. His corporate work has included Superfund litigation, environmental contract negotiation and litigation, and regulatory analysis.
“I would put him at the top of his tier group,” says Cal McCastlain, one of Allison’s law partners. “There are a large number of sophisticated, regulatory clients with a lot at stake, and they turn to Mark for guidance.”
McCastlain adds that his friend and colleague is detail oriented — in his professional and personal life.
“Especially in this line of business, he is even-keeled, studious, calm, cool and collected when he needs to be, but he also has a charming side as well,” McCastlain says.
In 1985, the Allisons’ had their first son, Jeff. A year later, Chris was born. Jeff now lives in Portland, Ore., and works for a state agency. Chris is in Castle Rock, Colo., and works at a restaurant.
Becky moved to Little Rock after her husband got his law degree and worked for a while at KTHV-TV. She later worked for a nonprofit organization. She eventually retired from the state Department of Environmental Quality in October.
Over the years, Allison has collected a garage full of gear to run the lights and sound for musical shows. He generally spends one night a month working with bands and makes just enough money to “buy more gear.”
When former Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for president in 2008, Allison and his wife made trips to Iowa and New Hampshire to provide sound at campaign rallies and for the governor’s band Capitol Offense. “I drove a 26-foot truck from Little Rock to New Hampshire,” he says.
He also runs the lights every Sunday at his church, First Methodist in Maumelle.
THE CHOICE!
The Evolve Gala 2020 is subtitled “A Celebration of Music.” The theme revolves around The Voice, a long-running singing competition on NBC. For the gala, the competition is called “The Choice.”
LB Crew, a Season 16 Voice contestant, will be the host. An El Dorado native, Crew grew up singing gospel music in church. “The Choice” contestants include Joe Purvis of Little Joe and the BK’s, Bijoux Pighee with the Rodney Block Collective, Craig Wilson of Dizzy 7 and Christina Madsen of Just Cause.
Guests can pay to vote for their favorite performer — $5 for one vote, three votes for $10 — at the black-tie optional event. There will also be a live auction including original art by Bob Snider and trips to Greers Ferry, Costa Rica and Angel Fire, N.M.
Rick Fleetwood, who retired last month as CEO of Snell Prosthetics and Orthotics, will be honored as the Hero of Hope. Fleetwood is a longtime member of the Centers’ board of directors and a well-known philanthropist in Central Arkansas.
Fleetwood praises Allison for his dedication to Centers.
“Mark is an amazing man and his commitment to the community makes a big difference,” Fleetwood says. “We are probably going to have the best year we’ve ever had and that’s because Mark is someone who gets out there and gets it.”
Fleetwood says he is proud to “join a long line” of recipients who have received the Hero of Hope award. And he is especially proud of the Champions of Hope, a group for boys in their junior and senior years of high school who have completed a leadership and philanthropy program hosted by the Centers.
“The most wonderful aspect of it is we finally have something for young men who can go out and make a difference in the community,” Fleetwood says. The Champions of Hope will be recognized during the gala.
More information on the Evolve Gala can be found at centersforyouthandfamilies.net.
SELF PORTRAIT
Mark Allison
• DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: May 16, 1957, El Dorado.
• FAVORITE ALBUM OF ALL TIME: Led Zeppelin IV
• FAVORITE CONCERT OF ALL TIME: In the fall of 1973, I went to see Led Zeppelin in Mobile, Ala. That would have been about a week before Led Zeppelin IV came out. It was loud.
• OTHER MEMORABLE CONCERTS: I went to see Dave Matthews at Verizon. I don't know if it was [because of] where we were seating, but that was some very, very good sound. Becky gets mad at me because I critique shows when I go see them.
• FAVORITE CITY OUTSIDE OF LITTLE ROCK: I have to say either Paris or Nairobi. It's been a long time since I've been back to Nairobi, but I always have fond memories.
• A BOOK I AM CURRENTLY READING: I read the Federal Register every day.
• A MOVIE I RECENTLY WATCHED AND LIKED: Little Women.
• IN MY CAR I LISTEN TO: I hate to say it, but I go between the news channels.
• FAVORITE MEAL: Lately, I've learned to cook rib-eye on the stove using the reverse sear method that's really good. ... You cook it in the oven and then take it out and sear it in a cast-iron skillet.
• THE ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP: Grateful
CORRECTION: Mark Allison’s middle initial is H. His middle initial was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.