President’s Perspective

A tribute to my ‘Arkansas sister’

I’ve written often in this space about the comradery among the AAC Board members and how much I have learned about other county elected positions since I joined the Board in 2012. Perhaps no board member has had the influence on me that former Clark County Treasurer Judy Beth Hutcherson did. She was more than a colleague. She was a dear friend and mentor.

On Nov. 7, 2021, we lost Judy Beth.

I really got to know Judy Beth when she became president of the Board in 2015, and I became vice-president. We had so much in common beyond being county elected officials. We both were mothers and grandmothers. We had shared experiences and beliefs. We both grew up as military brats. Judy Beth even served in the military herself.

She was one smart, sharp, and knowledgeable lady. But she also was a self-proclaimed “cut up.” There were few times she did not have me laughing until I was crying.

As president and vice-president of the AAC Board of Directors, we were members of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Board of Directors. We traveled to many NACo meetings together, but our very first one stands out in my mind.

I’m pretty outgoing, but there’s no way I could hold a candle to her. Judy Beth never met a stranger, and she knew how to break the ice. She wore a Razorback nose to our first NACo Board meeting — and she kept it on the whole time. We did not know anyone in that room, but it wasn’t long before we were meeting everybody.

Judy Beth was like a mother figure to me. We would talk about everything in the world.

And she seemed intent on pulling me out of my comfort zone. One time she made me wear a bikini t-shirt (you know the kind — an oversized t-shirt with an image of a bikini-clad body on the front and back) to a beach themed NACo reception. I was so embarrassed.

She lived life to the fullest, riding motorcycles with her husband Elven and tooling around Clark County in her little red Saturn Sky convertible.

I’ll never forget my first ride in that convertible. The AAC Board of Directors and Legislative Committee had met at DeGray Lake Resort to review and vote on the AAC legislative package for an upcoming session. Judy Beth decided she needed to go to Walmart, and she told me to get in. The top was down, Judy Beth turned up the ‘70s tunes, and we took off down the Interstate singing and bopping around. She was waving at truckers; I thought for sure she would get pulled over. By the time we got to Walmart, Judy Beth’s hair was cattywampus and mine was in tangles. She didn’t care, though. Into Walmart we went. She drove me all around Arkadelphia, the seat of Clark County, because I had never been there before.

Judy Beth had always been public service minded, but she knew how to have fun. One of the biggest lessons she taught me was to have more confidence in myself. She continually drove home the point that my life did not have to be all about getting things done and being so serious all the time. She taught me to enjoy life, to enjoy the moment.

Even after she retired in 2017 and I became president of the AAC Board, I felt like she was my cheerleader. For that, I will be forever grateful.

Rest in Peace my “Arkansas sister.”

Debbie Wise Randolph County Circuit Clerk / AAC Board President

DEBBIE WISE AAC Board President; Randolph County Circuit Clerk

Debbie Wise

One of the ways Judy Beth

Hutcherson left a lasting impression on those she encountered was to hand out $1 million bills.