Two members of the Bald Knob community were named Citizens of the Year at the annual Bald Knob Chamber Banquet on Feb. 29.
Tyler Hyatt and Carl White earned the honor after the vote ended in a tie.
“It was humbling, to say the least,” Hyatt said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting it, and I am very appreciative of it being bestowed upon me.”
“I was shocked, to tell you the truth,” White said. “I had no idea I was picked. It meant a lot to me. I have done a lot of things to help this town, but I never would have thought I would be named Citizen of the Year.”
Hyatt is the general manager and a licensed funeral director for Powell Funeral Home. He has served on the Bald Knob School Board, and served on the Bald Knob Chamber of Commerce Board and as its president, and is currently a volunteer captain with the Bald Knob Fire Department. He also coached Little League baseball and Dixie Youth softball.
“I serve on two cemetery boards, and I am chairman of one of the boards, where I oversee the care and maintenance of both cemeteries here in town,” Hyatt said.
White has lived in Bald Knob his whole life, minus the two years he served in the Marines and was stationed in Vietnam, before being discharged as a combat wounded veteran. He was injured in an explosion, suffering from fragments from either a grenade or a mortar round.
“Pretty much my entire left side,” White said.
White then talked about his volunteering in the community and his experience as an electrician and businessman. He had his own company, White Electric, in Bald Knob for about 20 years.
“I like people. I like to help people if I can in anyway I can,” he said. “I am a licensed electrician, and I will do things around town, helping the chamber and the town itself, and I served on the City Council off and on for about 10 years.”
Homefest is an annual festival in Bald Knob, and White said a lot of times, the vendors will need electricity, and he said he would always play a part in providing that for them.
“I just enjoy being able to help,” White said. “I’ve been here all my life, and I have seen a lot of changes, and anytime I could help, I would.”
For a number of years, Hyatt served on the committee that was solely responsible for the planning of the carnival and the entertainment.
Hyatt was raised in McCrory, graduating from high school in 1991, and began working for the Powell family in 1994 after finishing mortuary school in South Haven, Mississippi. Hyatt has served as the deputy coroner for White County for the past 22 years.
“It is very important to serve in the communities in which we live and give our time and resources,” Hyatt said. “Having a business in this county, we rely on relationships that we have built over the years. It is important to give back and not just take.
“Larger areas have the resources to provide certain things, so it takes volunteerism to have any sort of functions or events, or to coach your children.
“Without volunteerism, small towns wouldn’t thrive.”
Growing up, Hyatt worked with his dad, Michael Hyatt, at a funeral home in McCrory.
“I grew up around it,” Tyler said. “From a distance, I could see the importance of the role of the funeral director — being there in a critical time.
“It was important, and I saw that what he did was vitally important to the community.”
Tyler’s dad died in 2016.
“He was very supportive of me,” Tyler said. “I can’t brag on him enough, making sure I had a good work ethic.
“All of what I am today, he was the cause of that. He made me who I am today.”
Danny Holobaugh has been the chief for the Bald Knob Fire Department for 33 years and has known Hyatt for about 15 years.
“Tyler is an excellent person,” Holobaugh said. “He’s a good person who cares for the community, and he takes care of our fire prevention at the school.”
Hyatt has been a volunteer for the department for about 10 years and was asked to volunteer because Holobaugh said it is hard to get daytime people.
“With his job, he is available to help us some during the day,” Holobaugh said of Hyatt. “He brings the fire safety house up to school and hands out materials and talks to the daycare kids at the school.
“That is the main thing that he does.”
Holobaugh said Hyatt is absolutely deserving of the award because he is very involved in the community.
“We are very good friends,” Holobaugh said. “I help him at the funeral home, and we have coffee when we aren’t too busy.
“He’s a very caring person. He cares about everybody and is a nurturing person.”
Hyatt said he had always wanted to join the Fire Department but had just never had the time or opportunity to join.
“Danny is another one I’ve always looked up to as far as volunteerism, and I followed his lead in a lot of ways,” Hyatt said. “He and I have worked on a lot of things in this community together.
“He and I used to hang the flags on the utility poles on July 4. We would take the day and do things like that.”
David Powell, the owner of Powell Funeral Home, said Hyatt is a very compassionate person and is very community- and family-oriented.
“He is always thinking of other people and what he can do to help others,” Powell said. “We are blessed and honored to have him working with us.”
White graduated from White County Training School in 1963, which is now closed.
“I never got the opportunity to go to school here because I had to be bused to Searcy,” White said. “I had the opportunity to serve on the City Council in Bald Knob, and that was a big change.
“I thought I could make a difference, and I did by being on [the council]. I had a cousin on it before I was, and he stayed on for several years. When he died, I took his position.”
White, who will turn 75 next month, said that with the wounds he suffered in Vietnam, he can’t get around well anymore. He left the City Council position to let someone younger take over.
White and his wife, Ella, have been married for 13 years.
“There are some good people here [in Bald Knob], and it is a nice town to live in,” White said. “There are a lot of good people with a good home feeling.”
Hyatt and his wife, Jada, have been married for five years, and he has three children and three stepchildren.
“In my profession, I am exposed to a lot of different communities, but there has never been a more tight-knit group of people than Bald Knob,” Hyatt said. “I’ve always been impressed with it. We look after everybody, and unless you live here, you wouldn’t understand how true it is.
“This has just become home. This is the only home my children have ever known.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.