Sondra Lee Hercher Gordy

Dr. Sondra Lee Hercher Gordy died on September 13th, 2022, in Conway. She lived large and rowdy, and loudly expressed her opinions. Always ready to make everything a party, she smuggled mini-bottles of champagne into everything from faculty parties to Friday lunch at Stoby's to movie theaters. She yelled about politics, hated inequality and injustice, and lived for nearly 78 years without her children or friends ever witnessing her drink a single glass of water. Sondra was born on November 7th, 1944 in Pine Bluff, Ark., to Raymond and Vernon Hercher. Always an overachiever, she attended Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) at age 17. At 19, she became the "Arkansas Chicken Cooking Queen" and won an all-expense paid trip throughout Europe, where her horizons were broadened more because of a plate of chicken spaghetti than anyone in human history. Despite this culinary honor, by the time her sons reached adolescence, she had given up on cooking forever, imparting to them the important lessons of self-reliance and how to combat freezer-burned foods. Sondra graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in History before she was of legal age to drink. She went on to do graduate work at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and got her Ph.D from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, eventually teaching History and aspiring history teachers at UCA for 36 years, and all while wearing animal prints. But what she lacked in solid-colored clothing, she made up for in awards. She was the recipient of the University Educator of the Year from the Arkansas Council of Social Studies, the Teaching Excellence Award Winner from the University of Central Arkansas, and the Violet B. Gingles Award winner from the Arkansas Historical Association. She combined her two loves of education and Civil Rights Era history to write her book, Finding the Lost Year (University of Arkansas Press), about the school year of 1958-59, and the effects on students and teachers of Governor Faubus shutting down Little Rock Public Schools rather than continuing to integrate. She followed that up with a documentary on the subject that she made with Sandy Hubbard called "The Lost Year." And she lived long enough to see her youngest granddaughter start her freshman year at Central High just a few weeks ago. In retirement, she spent her time volunteering as a docent at the Clinton Library, drinking Diet Coke and eating chocolate, staying up late and gossiping, idling in her car in various drive-thru lines, going on road trips with her friends, and saying inappropriate things way too loud at her grandchildren's school and sporting events. Yet all of those people loved her and they will miss her so, so much. Sondra was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Fred Gordy; and is survived by her sister, Mona Hercher of Conway; her sons and daughters-in-law, Hunter and Ambra Austin of Conway, and Graham and Amy Gordy of North Little Rock; and her grandkids, Hadleigh and Ethan Austin of Conway, and Lilla and Ike Gordy of North Little Rock. Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 18th at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Conway. Internment will be in the church's columbarium following the service. In lieu of flowers, any memorial tributes can be made to: The Rheumatology Research Foundation (www.rheumresearch.org) or the AETN Foundation (www.myarkansaspbsfoundation.org