Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1955-1980

• • ' Conrad House, Airplane Mechanic, Does Not Questionl F~trell~s Flying Abirrty 'He Was One Of Those Real Picky Guys Who Had To Have Everything Just So-So.' was J. Marion Futrell, late Ar– kansas governor during _ the Depression. · "The town was stunned and horrified," ·says Mrs. Pat Rai– ney, secretary of the Walnut I Ridge Chamber of Commerce. "Everyo.ne felt a personal loss." ''It was _one of those things I you read about hi the paper and don't think ever will hap– ! pen here,'! says Har9ld Boyd, loca~ manager of the Arkan– sas-Missouri Power Co. I "I'll tell you how it affects a small community. It slows down business for a few days, and people walk around talk– ing ibout it constantly," says James L. Bland Jr., editor of . . l'!te Times Dispatch, Walnut ~dge's,-award-winning weekly. The community's radio sta– tion, 'KRLW, began a broad– casting campaign for money to finance the extensive search. According to Mrs. Shirley Tur– byeville, station secretary, mor~ than $3,900 was raised, all in small contributions. A reward was established from the fund, $500 for the person providing the due which leads to the location of the plane. - 1 · Clues came in, including one . . Futrell's Office In Western Auto Store fr~m a railroad employe who • Model Plane Is Like The On H L d T Fl said he saw a plane burning - ... . . e . e earne o y outside Clarksdale, Miss. It They're gone, and we've got to other$,- including his closest wasn't ~~ted:" ... _keep going. The hard thing for friends, say Bob F~t:ell was a On arch 21, the Lawrence me wa$ that I lost my husban~d~ man who made decisions slow- Count Probate Court ruled (A. D. Futrell, Bob's father) lly, -but st ~ck to them. ~e Futrells dead. Mrs. Bonnie February a year ago. And now . He decided to go home that Futrell Bob's mother and this." t ight. . ._Jimmy L. aauenger, po;tmas- Tbat, more t~an anyth1J:1g, 'ter of Corn,ing, Ark., a family Lovel Slayton, father of one hey s.a~, ends this story. . .. cousiq, were appointed admin-, ~f the. missing mea,1>robably Mr. Futrell and Mi-. S ayton ntratort of the es~te. 1s the moet bitter ''To save were lifetime friends. Both Mrs. Futrell and Mrs. Nell- my soul, I can't figure out why were members ,of Free Street l wyn Sibley of Paragould, Ark., they left that night. I've Church of Christ. Mr. Slayton . a sister of Marilyn Futrell, ra.~ked my br~in and can't see was a deacon. were named coguardians of it, he says quietly. , the Fu ell children, Price Fu- 1 _Then·, there are some other ~ four missing were Sun_– trell, 10, and Jane Louise Fu- friends. day school teachers at the trell, 8. Dr. James H. Hickman, church, none was ever known A hearing has not been set physic~an and _mayor of Wal- [to consume . alcoholic bever- for the Slaytons. One question nut Ridge, for one. "Hard- ages, and 11e1ther the SlaY,tons . l wi!l be custody oL their two head~d is about the way you'd no;. Futre!ls were p~rty-goers. . 1 children, ~evin SlaytQn, 8, and put it. B_o~ Futrell had very In this t~wn_, it s the big ·" K~ren Leigh Slayton, 6, now stro!lg opinions, and he was in- / d~al to be big m the church. { 1 -bemg kept alternately by tbe fleXIble m them. I played foot- It s a r_eal church town. We :,. two sets of grandparents. . : ·· ball against him in high school have so;:3e pe~ple who go_ ev-. . Daf!ell _Slayton was a part.; and have known him for years. ery day, . explains Mr. Bland. , ner w~th his father; Lovel Slay- He was _a hustler, and lately The trip to Jackson was not i, ton, m Slayton Br O thers not as fnendly." church-connected, however. It I l Farms, a 700-acre operation J\nd Mr. Johnson at the air- i was m~de to attend a meeting ' near Walnut Ridge. His wife port: "If I'd ever told Bob he ~y the executives of Automo– was the daughter of Mr. and needed to get his instrument t1ve Performance, Inc. (API), Mrs Flo Cole of . Walnut rating, he would have laughed a co~~any which produces va– Ri~~e, ~JUN!IL.larm- f~mil)'. at me." por IDJectors for automob~~s Mrs. Floyd Cole Karen And Kevin Slayton x,, . - a company in which both men had invested. I · Mrs. Leanna Wilson, wife of Mike Wilson, minister of Free Street Church, describes the ,two couples as "good Chris- l tian, }lard-worldng people." · "And Bob was so meticu- . lous, so particular in every– thing he did, so level-headed. So was · Darrell. The kind of men' you depend on to think · _ _ things through." · · Mrs. Futrell, gray-haired, crystal-eyed grandmother now in charge of Bob's estate, has given · up ·hope -but just re- ·cently. · , ''I held out ,by thinking it as a nightmare," she says. "But I gu~ss it finally sank in. /