CONWAY — Herman Lasker, a longtime former educator in the Conway School District, said he doesn’t feel worthy but appreciates being chosen as the grand marshal of the Faulkner County Fair Parade.
The parade starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday in downtown Conway to kick off the 81st fair.
“It’s an honor and we’re very grateful,” Lasker said, referring to his wife, Essie. He said she was a tutor, what is now called a paraprofessional, in the Conway School District.
He retired from the Conway School District after a 33-year career in physical education.
“We’re reluctant to feel like we’ve done a lot of things to be placed up there,” Lasker said of the parade honor. “We don’t think we need to be grand marshals, but if the committee thinks we’ve done something worthy, we appreciate it.”
Mark Ledbetter, a member of the Conway City Council, nominated Lasker.
“I know he had a lot of impact on a couple of generations of kids coming through Conway Public Schools. He’s just a super person,” Ledbetter said. “He was a mentor to a lot of kids.”
Lasker graduated from Pine Street High School and Philander Smith College. He started his career as head boys basketball coach at Lincoln High School in Washington, Arkansas.
He later coached at Pine Street School and taught science at Conway Junior High School before moving to Conway High School. He taught physical education and started the intramural program.
He was voted Teacher of the Year in 1980-81.
Lasker said he doesn’t keep up with dates or accolades he’s received during his career.
“I was working … it was just a joy to be around the kids,” he said.
Parade Chairman Rick Sublett said honorees this year are Sabrena Thacker, a teacher at Mayflower High School, and Richard Collins of Conway.
Thacker was nominated by Kimberly Koch, principal of Mayflower Middle School, who wrote: “She is a teacher who goes above and beyond in the classroom and out.”
Koch said Thacker always takes first-day-of-school photos to send to parents. A Mayflower student with cancer couldn’t be at school, “so Sabrena went to her house to take her picture, which meant the world to their family as they are getting used to their new normal,” Koch wrote.
She added that Thacker is the sponsor for National Honor Society, and the students do a project to support Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Frank Shaw, a Conway attorney, nominated Collins for the honor. Shaw said he and Collins have been friends for 45 years.
Collins’ son, Rick, said his 89-year-old father retired in 1995 after a 36-year career as a biology professor at the University of Central Arkansas. He said his father sold real estate through the years, starting in the 1970s, and owned Collins
Round Mountain Orchard, a peach orchard, from 1985 until it sold in 2014.
Rick Collins said also significant in his father’s career was serving as a special agent in the counterintelligence corps in the U.S. Army for two years.
In 1975, Richard Collins was appointed by the United Nations to teach aquaculture in Hungary. He also was on the board for Conway Regional Medical Center and served a term as chairman.
Rick Collins said his father was appointed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee to the Arkansas State Plant Board, where he served for 10 years.
The Collins family was Farm Family of the Year in 2001. “It was the largest pick-your-own orchard in the state at the time, with 7,000 trees,” Rick Collins said. “Daddy has really done a lot in his life.”
Shaw said that’s why he nominated Richard Collins as a parade honoree.
“He has led a varied and productive life, and everybody has enjoyed the fruits of his labor,” Shaw said, pun intended.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.