People & Places

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Doss to mark 100th birthday

Geneva Ilene Doss of Winslow will celebrate her 100th birthday with a potluck from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Black Oak Church of Christ.

She was born Dec. 7, 1913, in Black Oak to Thomas and Lillie Jamerson, the second of six children. She grew up milking cows, shearing sheep, thrashing wheat and growing cash crops like tomatoes and strawberries on what was known as Jamerson Mountain.

Doss attended both Black Oak and Clifty schools. On Oct. 15, 1938, she married Millard Doss of Sunset at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.

The couple had four sons - Marion, Mervil, Roger and Kenneth - and lived in Fullerton, Calif., where Millard Doss worked at a General Motors factory.

They retired back to Arkansas in the mid-1970s, eventually living less than a mile from the farm where Geneva Doss grew up. Doss still lives there today.

Doss has 16 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She loves to knit and cook and enjoys reading about local history.

Birthday cards may be sent to Geneva Doss, 18375 S. Black Oak Road, Winslow 72959.

Shoffner earns Eagle Scout

John Shoffner, 18, of Rogers earned the rank of Eagle Scout on Nov. 21. Shoffner is a member of Troop 81, which meets at Central United Methodist Church in Rogers.

He has been a Boy Scout for 12 years and earned 31 merit badges to fulfill Eagle Scout requirements. For his Eagle Scout project, he built a gazebo for the Sunshine School and Development Center in Rogers.

The gazebo was built in the school’s Sensory Garden with the help of more than 15 Scouts and parents from Troop 81. The project included more than 200 volunteer hours.

Underwood vies in piano contest

Fayetteville native James Underwood will travel to Natchitoches, La., in January to compete as a division finalist in the Senior Piano Competition.

The son of Jeff and Cynthia Underwood, he earned the opportunity after being named the winner of the Arkansas Senior Piano Competition. He is a senior at Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville and has studied piano for 12 years.

He is a student under Mark Smidt and is also a member of the Haas Hall quiz bowl team. He is a Boy Scout pursing the rank of Eagle Scout.

The Divisional Senior Piano Competition will take place Jan.

18-19 during the Musical Teachers National Association South Central Conference. The winner of the contest will compete in the National Finals during the MTNA National Conference in Chicago in March.

UA professor named fellow

Kristen Jozkowski, an assistant professor of community health promotion at the University of Arkansas, has been named a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction atIndiana University. Jozkowski also serves as an affiliate faculty member in gender studies at the UA.

The insitute was founded in 1947 by Alfred Kinsey, considered to be a pioneering sex researcher,and is the oldest sexuality research institute in the United States.

Kiwanis hosts kids’ programs

The Fayetteville Metro Kiwanis Club is hosting a K-Kids andTerrific Kids program each month at the Fayetteville Boys and Girls Club.

The K-Kids program helps promote leadership through service, with kids planning and participating in community service projects like organizing community food drives or helping the elderly with chores.

Terrific Kids is a student recognition program designed to promote character development, self-esteem and perseverance. Students work with classroom teachers to help improve behavior, peer relationships, attendance or school work.

November’s Terrific Kids were Abel Lehman, Zaria Salley and Arianna Deffebaugh.

UA professor authors book

Kevin Jones of Fort Smith, an assistant professor of English education at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, recently released a book on Fort Smith history.

The 128-page book, “FortSmith: Images of America,” was published by Arcadia Publishing. It chronicles the town’s Civil War skirmishes, the infamous “hanging judge” Isaac C. Parker and diverse families that settled in the area.

The book also features more than 150 vintage photographs dating from the 19th century through the 1970s.

The book is the result of nine months of research.

Jones will discuss the community’s history during a lecture at 2 p.m. Jan. 26 at The Clayton House, 514 N. Sixth St. in Fort Smith. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Erdman wins for grave study

Kimball Erdman, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of Arkansas, will receive an Oakley Certificate of Merit from the Association for Gravestone Studies at 6 p.m. today at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock.

The award recognizes work that has fostered an appreciation for the cultural significance of gravestones and burial grounds through study or preservation efforts.

Erdman and Johanna Miller Lewis, a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will be recognized for their work at the Rohwer Relocation Center Cemetery, a World War II Japanese internment camp site in Desha County.

Lewis spearheaded a project to stabilize and restore the cemetery markers at Rohwer after receive a National Park Service grant in 2011. Erdman prepared a Historic American Landscapes Survey that included drawings, photography and a written history of the site.

Send information about birthdays, honors and reunions to [email protected] , [email protected] or Northwest Arkansas Achievers, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, AR 72765.

Style, Pages 27 on 12/05/2013