John Hayes loves Beebe and believes in volunteering for the community.
Hayes, a 1973 graduate of Beebe High School and a 1975 graduate of Arkansas State University-Beebe, recently received the Outstanding Alumni Award from ASU-Beebe during the Arkansas Community Colleges fall conference at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
“I love my hometown. … I love central Arkansas, … and I love White County,” Hayes said.
After graduating from Beebe High School, Hayes went on to get an associate degree in business from ASU-Beebe.
Hayes said he was honestly surprised by the honor he received from his alma mater.
“ASU-Beebe will always hold a special place in my family’s heart,” he said. “My grandfather, R.V. Powell Sr., was instrumental in organizing ASU-Beebe in 1927. He started a scholarship for agriculture business students, which has been going on since the 1930s. It’s probably the oldest private scholarship on campus.”
Hayes has been a volunteer in the Beebe area since he graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1977.
“I was stunned,” he said after receiving the Outstanding Alumni Award. “I’m not used to people recognizing me for anything. I don’t volunteer or do things to be recognized. I was stunned that was I nominated and selected for the award. I can’t put it any different than that.
“I’m proud. I’m proud to represent my community and ASU-Beebe and will, even after this year.”
ASU-Beebe Chancellor Jennifer Methvin said Hayes is deserving of the honor of being the outstanding alumnus from her institution.
“John Hayes is a long-standing community member in Beebe,” she said. “Not only does he come from a long line of Beebe businesses; he’s a leader in everything with the Beebe community. He is also one of those alums who give back. He and his family provide gifts of many kinds in scholarships. We don’t have a capital campaign that they are not involved in.”
Methvin said Hayes gives so much to the college.
“He’s just an outstanding example of the good that can come in the world from your alums.”
Hayes said it’s part of his makeup to be a volunteer in the community.
“I’ve always been a believer in volunteerism,” he said. “I’ve probably got over 100 years cumulative in different areas of volunteering.”
Hayes has volunteered in the following capacities:
• A Beebe volunteer firefighter for 20 years.
• A scoutmaster for 15 years.
• A youth baseball coach for 15 years.
• A past president of the Beebe Kiwanis Club.
• A member of the board for the Beebe Education Foundation.
• A member of the board for the ASU-Beebe Alumni Association.
“It’s part of my DNA to be involved … always has been,” Hayes said. “It’s part of my value system to give back to the community.”
Additionally, Hayes has served on the Beebe City Council and the Beebe Water Commission, and volunteered with the Beebe Badger Booster Club.
“I’m always involved in something,” he said.
Hayes is a fourth-generation Beebe resident. His family moved to the area in 1919, and his grandfather started Powell & Co., a department store, in that year.
“Powell sold groceries, farm implements, cattle, horses … whatever a farmer from around here needed to live on and make a crop,” Hayes said. “That changed over the years. It was the go-to place in this part of central Arkansas for your dry goods, seed and farm implements.”
After graduating with a business degree from UCA, Hayes worked for the family business.
“I got out in March 1981,” he said. “There’s actually too much family in Powell & Co. I had 3-month-old twins. I needed to make more money. That’s when I started the insurance business.”
For 38 years, Hayes worked as an insurance agent for Shelter Insurance in Beebe, retiring last summer.
“I just retired from the business in June,” he said, “so I’m just wandering around these days, and I kind of enjoy that.”
While he’s worked his entire professional career in his hometown, Hayes said, he had opportunities to leave, including a time during the mid-1980s.
“After I started the insurance business in 1981, somewhere around 1983 or 1984, I had an opportunity to move to Colorado with Shelter Insurance as a manager,” he said. “I didn’t think about it much. My roots run deep here. I couldn’t see leaving, so I never seriously thought about it.”
Hayes said he’s seen growth in both ASU-Beebe and the city since he graduated from high school.
“When I was there in the mid-1970s, there were under 600 students,” he said. “Now there are over 4,000 in the system, which includes Beebe, Searcy, Heber Springs and the Little Rock Air Force Base. This part of central Arkansas has grown. ASU-Beebe is a gem for this part of central Arkansas, not just for Beebe but for the communities like Searcy, Cabot and Jacksonville. It represents those communities as well. It’s not just about the students and the education. ASU-Beebe gives back to the community. It’s been supportive of the community.”
Hayes said ASU-Beebe was supportive of the Beebe Public Schools when a tornado decimated the district’s campus in 1999, as well as when a fire destroyed a gymnasium in the early 1970s.
ASU-Beebe opened its doors to let the school district use the facilities, he said.
Hayes said that when he was in high school, Beebe had a population of 2,500.
“I think they are projecting with the 2020 census that it will be over 10,000,” he said. “It’s still a small town with a small-town feel. Everybody knows everybody, but it’s growing.”
Now that he’s retired from the insurance business, Hayes said, he plans to stay involved with the community like he’s done for so many years.
“I’m currently on the ASU-Beebe Development Council, which is a group of business men and women in the community,” he said. “We meet once a quarter or so, and we advise the chancellor and vice chancellor and give our opinions. We raise money for scholarships. We just raised money to buy a golf cart to transport students and parents around campus. It’s a nice vehicle. Eight people can ride on it.”
Hayes currently serves on the Centennial Banks Regional Board and has for 13 years.
I’ll continue that,” he said. “I’m active in my church, Beebe First United Methodist Church. I’ve been a member for 53 years. I raised my kids there. My 93-year-old father is active in the church. He sang in the choir for 49 years.
“It’s a family who believes in volunteering for the community.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.