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from the reporter and he explains, “I didn’t want my folks to know. You know, they’re worried enough when they’ve got a boy gone.” He also hints that just maybe there is too much dependence on diplomacy in the region in these times: “As many people as we’ve lost over there... I think we ought to tell them, ‘If you boys don’t shut this thing down, we’re gonna lay a big egg on you.’ Tey have no respect for freedom.”


Taking A Jab At Machine Politics Gipson had an early interest in politics, running for state represen-


tative in 1964. He lost by only 212 votes to incumbent Democrat Paul Van Dalsem, an associate of Gov. Orval Faubus, who won his sixth and final term as governor that year by defeating Winthrop Rockefeller. Rockefeller, a businessman, philanthropist and political reformer, lost his first gubernatorial race that year, but in 1966 would become the state’s first Republican governor since Recon- struction.


“I ran a Cadillac campaign” in 1964, Gipson said, and felt


positive about coming so close to toppling Van Dalsem – who had become a lightning rod for efforts to reform objectionable “machine politics” of the time. “I worked at it hard, and made a lot of friends, met a lot of people,” he said. “I was a good candidate. I lost to a 28-year incumbent by only about 212 votes.” On the heels of the 1964 election, Rockefeller offered


Gipson a job as one of eight regional Republican “field representa- tives”. But he declined. “I chose not to, for family considerations. When you have a political job, you may have it one day and not have a job the next.” Perry County neighbor Len Blaylock – who would later chair the GOP in Arkansas – ended up taking the position.


Roadblock Just Leads To A Different Path One lost election in the 1960s turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “I ran for business manager for Local 454 (in Hot Springs at that time), and I lost by one vote!” But it wasn’t too long before it merged with the Pine Bluff local, “and they broke us,” he said ruefully. “But everything that happens to you puts you on an- other tangent,” he says philosophically.


Diverse Career His career has been


Bill and Alma Gipson in the kitchen of their Perry County home near Bigelow.


diverse, including 10 years on the local school board, and another 20 on the local Selective Service board. A charter member of the Wye Mountain Water De- partment, he has served 25 years on the 550-cus- tomer utility. In 1986, he was appointed by then-Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt, a Republican, to the fed-


COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2011 eral


Agricultural Stabilization and Conser- vation Service (ASCS) State Commit- tee, on which he served for four years. He was also on the Arkansas Rural Development Commission for a couple of years, but resigned that post to take a position on the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission. “Tommy Lewis of Conway was on it; he sold his salebarn, and I filled his unexpired term for two or three years, then I was appointed for a full seven-year term,” he said. Tat appointment is set to expire October 2012. His best skill? “Well, you just have to deal with every situation as it


is presented. I don’t really have a recipe; you just have to take things as they come up,” he said, although he has observed that some situations, if left to simmer for awhile, can work themselves out. He also observes that “It’s not the legislation that passes, but the legislation we keep from passing” that sometimes is more important.


And Then There’s The Farm Bill and Alma are no slouches when it comes to farming, either. Tey


were named the Perry County Farm Family in 1992. Teir main crops are cattle – about 200 head – and hay, soybeans and rice. “We used to strictly raise cotton, way back. Ten, we didn’t have a tractor; it was horse and mule.” However, they’ve always had cattle; “in fact we used to run them open-range,” said Bill. And while he was gracious to give his full, unhur- ried attention to the scheduled interview back in December, he was biding his time until he could change back into his farm clothes and go chase a bunch of cattle that had stampeded the evening before, breaking through three fences.


‘Many Hats’ enjoyed that.”


Te bottom line to Bill Gipson’s life? “I’ve worn many hats, and I’ve


43


Bill Gipson (left) stands outside the U.S. Capitol with Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt while Gipson was serving on the state ASCS Committee.


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