County Official Profile Bill Gipson


Veteran Perry County Justice of the Peace farms and dabbles in a lot of politics


ByRandy Kemp County Lines Editor


levels. And at age 80, despite double bypass heart surgery last summer, he doesn’t appear to be slowing down. He and Alma, his bride of 54 years, live just a mile or two down


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the road from the rural town of Bigelow. Tis farmer/rural statesman graduated high school in 1948 and attended welding school, auctioneer school, two semesters at Arkansas Tech, then what is now University of Central Arkansas. He’s worked for the railroad, as a union pipefitter, a livestock auctioneer, a frontline Marine, and through the course of it all, as an Arkansas River Valley farmer.


‘Friends Kept Calling’ Bill was working as a pipefitter with Local 155 at Arkansas Nuclear


One outside of Russellville in 1992 when he started getting phone calls from some of his friends about an opening on the Perry County Quorum Court. Gipson, a lifelong Republican, decided to run. His op- ponent, a Democrat, was also one of his cousins and a classmate. “I won by 23 votes,” he recalls. Since then he’s had one opponent, whom he beat with 67 percent of


the vote. Another man filed for the position a few years ago, but ended up not running. He is a charter member of the budget committee in his county – in fact, the only charter member still serving on the three-person panel.


ill Gipson is known in county government circles as a Perry County Justice of the Peace; has been for 18 years. But Gip- son, a minority Republican in a county of Democrats, has dabbled in politics and business at an impressive number of


As a county JP, he has worked with four judges: George McNeal, Gary Lawson, True Robinson, and now Baylor House. “I’ve been asked over the years to consider running for County Judge and other offices, but being a JP suits me. Te JP thing just fits my schedule, with all the other things I belong to. In fact, this job gets overinflated sometimes.” He is not only a native of Perry County, he and Alma today live more or less next door to the 1912 house where he was born and raised, just south of Bigelow. “I’m a native; a lot of people call me about things – they actually want my opinion!” he smiles with a touch of self- deprecation. “People around the county know me, and a lot of them do respect my opinion.” He admits, though, that he’s not in sync with some of the younger citizens of the county, or newer residents who have migrated in from Little Rock or other metro areas, to the same degree as the older citizens of Perry County. Bill logged six years as vice-


president of the Quorum Court Association, then followed Dewayne Mack as president for four years after Mack was elected to the Legislature. He currently serves on the 12-member executive board of the Quorum Court Association, repre- senting the Second Congressional District; is on the AAC Legislative Committee chaired by Debbie Wise; and aspires to one of the two JP seats on the AAC Board of Directors. “I was president of the Quorum Court Association when we got the legislation to allow us to marry people anywhere in Arkansas; before that it had to be in our district,” he said. “I do quite a few weddings,” he added, noting that nearby Toad Suck Park and Petit Jean Mountain are popular sites for outdoor wed- dings.


Slight Detour to Korea Drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1952, he saw frontline action


Bill Gipson (center), who just started his 10th term on the Perry County Quorum Court, is flanked in this file photo by former Gov. and First Lady Mike and Janet Huckabee


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in the Korean War. “I was there for one year and eight days,” he recalls with clarity. “We lost 38,000 Americans in Korea,” he adds grimly. “I lost a lot of good friends over there...” He trails off, and the reporter delicately poses the next logical question: “And did you ever... come close?” “Yes,” he replies in a whisper that still bears dark shadows nearly 60 years later. In fact, superiors turned in the paperwork recommending Gipson for the Purple Heart, “but I got that stopped.” Another quizzical look


COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2011


Gipson out on his Perry County farm


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