Obituaries

Garland Haines

Photo of Garland Haines
Garland Hankins, age 76, of Oil Trough died October 22, 2014. Garland was born June 29, 1938 to Henry Tyson and Violet Marie Hankins, who preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Shirley, three sons, Steven Garland and wife Barbie of Charlotte, North Carolina; Anthony Bruce and wife, Sherry of El Dorado, and Lance Parmer (Joe) of Oil Trough; six grandchildren, Steven and wife Amanda of Dallas, Texas; Mason of Los Angeles, California, Luke of Springdale and Elizabeth Hankins of Conway; Joseph and wife Brandi of Oil Trough and Hannah Cox and husband Shannon of Salado; one great-granddaughter, Riley Grace; and brother, Parmer Hankins and his wife, Lucinda of Oil Trough. Two nephews, Lee Hankins of Oil Trough and Phillip Hankins of Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was an active member of the Oil Trough Church of Christ where he served as Treasurer for over 20 years. Garland grew up waiting on customers and stocking shelves in his mother's general store in Oil Trough. He learned the importance of public service and how to deal with people at an early age. He spent his entire career in industry and various aspects of vocational and adult education. Along the way he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a Master's Degree in Vocational Education Administration from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He retired in 2004 after 30 years with the State of Arkansas, 15 of them as Deputy Director and State Director of Adult Education with the Department of Workforce Education in Little Rock. After retiring from the state, he did consulting work for the U.S. Department of Education and several companies for a few years. Garland also served as Director of White River Vocational Technical School (now ASU-Newport) for 5 years and was Assistant Director of Gateway Vocational-Technical School in Batesville (now University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville) for 10 years. He also worked as a Contracts Administrator for Aerojet Ordnance and Manufacturing Company in Batesville for eight years. He served as Mayor of Oil Trough for twenty years where he was responsible for working with the town council in bringing about major changes in the town's services including hard-surfacing all the town's street, creating the first fire department and purchasing a new fire truck, planning and implementing a free twice weekly residential and commercial garbage pickup, employing the town's first full-time law enforcement officer, establishing a cable TV system for all residents, and construction of the Community Center Building. During his tenure as State Director of Adult Education, he coordinated the development of the Adult Education Learning Resource Center designed to provide staff development to adult education teachers and administrator across the state of Arkansas. He also worked in conjunction with the mayor of Jacksonville and local industry leaders to develop and implement the Workforce Alliance for Growth in the Economy Program to serve incumbent workers and unemployed individuals in the state. The program won a national award from the National Alliance of Business in 1994 as one of the most innovative workplace programs in the nation. He also worked closely with the Department of Human Services on welfare reform and served on a number of committees to develop assessment and educational strategies to meet the needs of welfare clients. He also was actively involved with other state agencies in the planning and implementation of the state's National Workforce Investment Act. After his retirement, Garland continued to work for several years as a consultant for the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium in Washington, DC and MPR Associates in Berkeley, California. He also served as Interim Assistant Commissioner for Adult Literacy in the state of Georgia for six months in 2006. Garland was an active member on a number of local, state and national committees. He was past president of the Newport Area Chamber of Commerce, Newport Kiwanis Club and a member of the Jackson County Industrial Committee. He was past president of the Independence County Development Council; a member of the State Vocational Technical Education Advisory Committee; a past member of the Advisory Board for the Vocational Industrial Clubs of American and a former member of the Governor's Commission on Adult Literacy, appointed by Governor Bill Clinton. He received the state Director's Award in 1993 for Workplace Education presented by the Governor's Commission on Adult Literacy. The state association of adult education honored Garland after his retirement with the creation of "The Garland Hankins Award," presented annually to the outstanding adult education student in the state each year. He served as a member of the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium; a member of the Executive Committee for the National Council of State Directors of Adult Education and a member of the Arkansas Association for Public and Continuing and Adult Education. He worked with a committee of state adult education directors appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to develop the National Reporting System for adult education. Most recently he worked and was successful in the placement of the Hankins Store building in Oil Trough on the National Register of Historic Places. Funeral services will be Saturday, October 25, at 11 a.m. at the Oil Trough Church of Christ in Oil Trough. A private family visitation will be held from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, October 23. No public visitation is scheduled. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that memorials be made to the Children's Home of Paragould, Arkansas. Arrangements are by Jackson's Funeral Home in Newport with Interment at Maple Springs Cemetery in Oil Trough. www.jacksonsfh.com.

Published October 24, 2014

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