WE Neighbor of the Month

I’ve lived in Cleburne County since 2010, when my husband’s job moved us over to Heber Springs. We drove in at night and woke up in a cabin on the little red river, and I told my husband “I don’t care what they offer you, you better say yes because I’m not leaving!!” We immediately fell in love with the area and knew it would be a great place to raise our young children. After a few years we purchased Ozark Country Market on top of the mountain and have enjoyed serving the community as a local small business for many years now. We’ve made great friends and neighbors!

I grew up on a farm outside of Chelsea, OK, a little 1 stoplight town on historic Route 66! I went to school there up through the 9th grade, and then moved to the Oklahoma Panhandle for the remainder of high school, graduating from Hardesty (a no stoplight town, lol.) I’m a small town country girl, the daughter of career school teachers. I felt like l’d hit “the big time” when I went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater on a valedictorian scholarship and got a business degree.

As a freshman in college I played a lot of music and got noticed by a Nashville record producer and made an album; it was while touring around promoting the record on radio stations & Opry shows that I met my husband, also a professional musician. We now enjoy playing music with our 5 children, 4 boys and 1 girl! Our community activities run the gamut from supporting our children in their school activities, which include many sporting events, to playing music at several annual events, and a lot of business activities with our country store.

Lately we’ve been remodeling Pickles Gap Village down in the Conway area, so we’ve been spreading the love around our great state of Arkansas!

I can say the alphabet backwards faster than I can forwards, I have an inordinate love of adult onesies

& trees, and I’m a HUGE fan of Buc-cees convenience stores. Hmmm- I’m pretty much an open book.

My favorite hobbies are writing songs, playing music, fly-fishing, and playing with plants- designing landscapes and potted plants for my customers (even though my front yard is currently a wasteland- the cobbler’s shoes have holes analogy here.

My favorite thing about living in this magical hidden paradise is how I can go anywhere and we all have a genuine camaraderie with each other. I’m not just a number at the businesses- we’re all friends & no matter where I walk out of, I always leave with a smile on my face!

This year Heber Springs YoungLife put on Springfest for visitors and the community. People enjoyed lots of vendor booths, live music, food trucks, and the Springfest favorite the Butterfly Pavilion.

"WOW! An obstacle course, the butterfly tent, almost 40 vendors, and three music acts in SPRING PARK! Thanks to everyone who came out and attended Springfest and a big thank to all the volunteers! You made it all possible!!!! Kids are going to Young Life CAMP because of Springfest!!!!!"

-Jeffrey James, Heber Springs YoungLife Director