2025.05.01 THROW BACK THURSDAY - 70th REUNION FOR THE CLASS OF 1956
THROW BACK THURSDAY - 70th REUNION FOR THE CLASS OF 1956
PLUS CLASS NEWS
We are all set for announcing the "one night stand" 70th Reunion for our Class Here are the details so mark your calendars:
WHEN: SATURDAY , APRIL 25, 2026
WHERE: PLEASANT VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB
For our out-of-town guests we will plan a get-together dinner at a local restaurant on Friday night, April 24, 2026.
I will be posting a recommended Hotel for your stay. That will probably be the Embassy Suites in West Little Rock.
We are also inviting the Classes of 1955 and 1957 to join us. If you have a personal friend (s) in either of those
Classes, please encourage them to come. After all, we were all Central High Tigers at the same time, passed each
other many times in the hall and made friends. Oops, forgot to mention the Class of 1952. Yep, this should give all
of us a good feeling. Those guys are still around and kicking and they assure me, they will be there!!!! YEA!!!!!
Betty Chandler's combo will be playing for us at our banquet Saturday night.
There will be valet parking at PVCC.
1956 CLASS NEWS
We are very sad to announce that we have lost one of our favorite Classmates - Ben McMinn. What a courageous man he was!
Benjamin Clark McMinn, a well-known lawyer and businessman, died April 26, 2025, after a brief illness. He was born to Wilbur Clifford McMinn
and Helen Sample Purifoy McMinn on December 30, 1938, in El Dorado, Arkansas, the second of two sons, after his brother Wilbur. Ben attended
public and parochial schools in Little Rock and was a member of the Little Rock Central High Class of 1956. After high school, Ben studied at Tulane
University and graduated in 1960 where he was a proud member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and was a "True Gentleman." While at Tulane he spent a
summer studying at the University of Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Mexico. Following Tulane, Ben traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend the University
of Madrid. After working in banking and construction with his father, he enrolled in the University of Arkansas Law School here in Little Rock and
went on to graduate in 1968 from the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville. Ben practiced law for over 50 years. Ben's desire to learn
was a lifelong passion. He continued his studies by attending Kansai University of Foreign Studies in Hirakata, Japan, where he studied Japanese
Language. Many years later, after he turned 60, he traveled to the Soviet Union to study at the Pushkin Institute of Russian Language in Moscow.
He also taught English to children in Perm, Russia and to adults engaged in the oil business in Russia and Bulgaria. Ben is survived by his daughter,
Natasha McMinn Marlow and her husband, Cary Patrick Marlow, two grandchildren Miles McMinn Marlow and Miriam " Mimi" Helen Marlow, his
brother, Wilbur C. McMinn Jr. (Mickey), niece Cameron McMinn Carey and her husband Michael, nephew W. C. (Willy) McMinn Ill and his wife
Christine and niece Catherine Judson McMinn great nieces and nephews, Kelly McMinn, Kylie Hines (lan), Jimmy Carey, Griffin Carey, Elizabeth
Carey, Zed Lucas and one great-great niece Saoirse Hines. He was pre-deceased by his former wife Jyothi Rao McMinn and sister-in-law, Joyce
Groom McMinn. Ben was a member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, the West Little Rock Rotary Club; The Arkansas Bar Association, The Arkansas
Bar Foundation; a member of the Arkansas Supreme Court Client Security Fund Committee; a previous member of the Board of Directors of the Allen
School; Easterseals Arkansas, where he served as president; and the National Easterseals Board of Directors. A memorial service to honor his legacy
will be held Thursday, May 15th at 10:30am at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Little Rock. The Family would like to thank the team at CHI St. Vincent
Hospital ICU and the Arkansas Hospice Ottenheimer Inpatient Center at St. Vincent for their loving kindness to Ben in his last days.
Joe Crow and Ben. Picture taken not that long ago. Ben always had that smile on his face.
Regarding last week's TBT about the upcoming tour of old homes in the Quapaw District, we received this email:
It’s not on the list for the Quapaw Tour, but for several years, I owned the Charles J. and Eudora Lincoln House at
301 E. 7th Street (built 1872-1878). It remained our family, related by marriage to the Lincoln Family, into the mid-1970s.
Charles J. and Eudora Lincoln House | SAH ARCHIPEDIA
Kirk (Larry) Tompkins
Also heard from Peter Hartstein:
After reading the article about the tour above, wanted let you know to make a change of address for me. Our new address is 2206 Arch St, 72206.
Nine years ago we moved from downtown from the historic Methodist Parsonage to the Heights. Today we are moving back downtown to another
historic home on Arch St. We love the downtown community and we are very close to our church again.
Peter
1955 CLASS NEWS
A memorial service for Nedra Dodds brother, Sonny, married to Carolyn Carpenter, Class of 1960, will be held at the Fellowship Bible Church on
Kirk Road in West Little Rock on Thursday, May 15. Contact Carolyn, Annette Jackson Hawkins or me for more information.
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OK, I admit it, a "groaner", but too good to let it slip by:
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ML