ALL OURS, ALL HOURS Business Legends Lauded

FUNDRAISERS SEE RED

Edgar Barrales, from left, Jackie Sandoval, Barbara Loftin, Dania Herrera and Terrance Boyd enjoy the Crimson and Cream Couture.
Edgar Barrales, from left, Jackie Sandoval, Barbara Loftin, Dania Herrera and Terrance Boyd enjoy the Crimson and Cream Couture.

— Arkansas’ business leaders gathered Feb. 11 in Little Rock to laud four of their own as they were inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.

The 13th annual event drew a crowd of nearly 700 as the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business inducted L. Dickson Flake, Wallace W. Fowler and Northwest Arkansans Donald G. Soderquist and Leland E. Tollett.

Former Walmart Senior Vice Chairman Soderquist told us the honor was “humbling, particularly when I look at those who have gone on before me ... I stand here as a representative of all those who influenced my life.”

Tyson Foods former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tollett spent his entire career with the poultry giant and shared with us that it was the only job interview he ever had.

“My run at Tyson was a wonderful, wonderful experience... I don’t know that I would change anything.”

Previous Northwest Arkansas inductees have included David Glass, Johnelle and the late J.B.

Hunt, Sam Walton, Don Tyson and Harvey Jones.

Those toasting business titans included Ginger and Gov. Mike Beebe, Jean and UA President B. Alan Sugg, Jane and UA Chancellor Dave Gearhart, Diane and Walton College Dean Dan Worrell, Susan and Mike Duke, Lynne and Jim Walton, UA Trustee John Tyson and Brian Cornell.

Delta Sigma Theta’s Crimson and Cream Couture event on Feb. 12 combined boutique shopping, art, silent auction, live music and a fashion show at the Embassy Suites in Rogers.

The evening raised more than $30,000 to help support the University of Arkansas sorority alumnae chapter’s scholarships.

The $2,500 Nola Holt Royster Living Legacy Scholarship is awarded to Northwest Arkansas African-American high school girls who exemplify leadership and will pursue a college degree.

The $2,000 Bethany D.

McClendon Scholarship is awarded to African-American women pursuing a graduate or law degree at the University of Arkansas. The application deadline for both is March 14.

Those supporting scholarships included co-chairwomen LaTarsha Alsup and Macadda Peoples, Helena Gadison, Ulanda Terry, Kata Mari, Denise Thomas, Perrion Hurd, Chrystal Seawood and Felicia Hamilton.

The American Heart Association Go Red for Women on Tuesday offered an opportunity for more than 1,000 local ladies to learn more about the importance of their heart health and how to achieve it. More women die of heart disease each year than the next four causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer.

The half-day event raised $180,000 and featured workshops that covered topics such as Children’s Health, Fitness and Quality of Life, Eating for A Healthy Heart and Go Red Fashion.

Attendees had the chance to bid on dozens of donated purse packages in the Purseonalities purse auction, and the day culminated in a luncheon that featured keynote speaker Dale Smith Thomas.

Th ose go ing re d fo r women included 2010 cochairwomen Theresa Barreraand Elise Mitchell, 2011 cochairwomen Suzy Fehlig and Cindy MacNaughton, Esther Silver-Parker, Shirley Esch, Cynthia Coughlin, Susan Hui, Pam Jones, Pamm Prebil and Janet Hendren.

OUR TOWN COLUMNIST CARIN SCHOPPMEYER CAN BE REACHED BY E-MAILING CSCHOPPMEYER@ NWAONLINE.COM OR BY PHONING 872-5049.

Our Town, Pages 1 on 02/20/2011

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