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Favorite Son
Arkansas is a state of civic pride. People remember where they came from and speak of these places with a particular note ringing in their voices. Asked about their hometown, people proudly recite the high school mascot, relay the local attractions and recommend what café serves the best pecan pie. John McIntosh is one such person; a local boy who couldn’t wait to get out of town to go to college, but who quickly returned and has for decades sought to improve and promote Fort Smith. Even today, in the embrace of retirement from the marketing firm he founded and ran, he gushes about his hometown in ways that puts the Chamber of Commerce to shame. “I was born in ‘47, grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s; it was a great time to grow up here. Life was good,” he said. “A funny thing, it was one of those things where I couldn’t wait to get out of town, but once I was out of town and got married and had a kid it looked like a pretty good place to come back to.” That‘s exactly what John and his wife Judi did, migrating back to Fort Smith to live, work and raise their four children. With each passing year, their roots deepened and their fondness for the place grew, even as the community went through the economic ups and downs that came with changing times.
John McIntosh
“I think Fort Smith can be described as rising above,” he says. “We have had a lot of shock and a lot of economic challenges that have happened in Fort Smith. It’s an ebb and flow. It’s easy to get discouraged, but you know words Dwain Hebda IMAGEs Jade Graves Photography
what? As a ball player, as long as there was time on the clock, we were giving it everything we could give it. And I see Fort Smith that way.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
