Season 3, Episode 5

Riding The Cat Bus for 35 years!

Terry Hanson

Today’s guest is someone who’s logged more miles on the backroads of Columbia County than most of us could count. Terry Hanson has been driving a school bus for the Magnolia School District for 35 years — and that’s not counting the year he spent subbing before that. He drives Bus 72, known to the kids as the “Cat Bus,” and in some ways it’s a reflection of his career — reliable, steady, and still rolling strong.

Terry’s day begins out in the Mt. Vernon community, where Lafayette County is practically in his backyard. From there, he heads down those familiar roads, past places like Frog Level — the original county seat of Columbia County — gathering his students one by one on the way into town.

He’s seen a lot of changes over the years: from cranking open doors by hand — which has given his right arm quite a workout — to the new high-tech buses with automatic transmissions, mounted tablets, cameras, and safety systems that make sure no child is ever left behind. And somewhere along the way, he’s driven not just children, but the children of his first riders — which tells you something about how deeply rooted he is in this community. And many of those riders have grown up to become outstanding citizens, and some have become personal friends. It demonstrates the importance of sticking with an endeavor.

Terry was recognized last June as one of a handful of district employees with over 30 years of service, and it’s a safe bet he’ll be honored again when this school year wraps up.

So, buckle up and ride along as we hear the story of Terry Hanson — 35 years behind the wheel, thousands of students safely carried, and a legacy of dedication that’s pure Magnolia through and through.

You know the routine: press the play button below or tune in wherever you get your podcasts to catch today’s episode.

Listen on Google Drive

Season 3, Episode 4

 From pews to pastures, Jack does it all

Jack and Sunny Daniels

His father either had a great sense of humor or a knack for coming up with names. He named the acreage he farmed around the Red River Miracle Farms, based on a favorite saying of his: “God grants the miracle, we do the work.”

But why did Mr. Daniel’s name his son Jack?

“I have a lot of fun with the name,” Jack told me. 
“Apparently my dad had a pretty good sense of humor.”

In today’s episode, I sit down with Jack to talk about the story behind Miracle Farms — its roots, its name, and the faith that still shapes the work that happens on the farm out near the Bodcaw community in Nevada County. And along the way we learn a few amazing facts about the man who keeps things rolling at the farm.

Click the play button below to hear this week’s episode:

Season 3, Episode 3

 Stories from the man behind the chair

Today on Life in LA, I sat down with a man who’s been part of Magnolia’s story for nearly six decades. Don Higdon began barbering on the square back in 1966, when a shop might have just one pair of electric clippers that all three barbers shared. Since then, he’s seen every hairstyle imaginable come and go — from the flat top and the GI cut to the mullet and beyond — and he’s had a front-row seat to the conversations, laughter, and life stories that passed through his chair.

But there’s a lot more to Don than just a good haircut. In our conversation, I learned about the wedding he once kept secret from his father-in-law, the seasons he spent working in the oil field between barbering, and even his hidden talent for writing — short stories, a novel, and a little freelance journalism along the way.

These days, Don and his wife, Carla, still keep busy helping their daughter and son-in-law, Sunny and Jack Daniels, at the Pumpkin Patch at Miracle Farms in Bodcaw. The old sign for Don’s Barbershop still stands on North Vine Street, though the building now serves as a deer camp — a fitting reminder of a long and colorful career.

I really enjoyed visiting with Don, swapping stories, and reminiscing about what it was like to get a haircut in the good old days — and I’ll admit, I wish I still had as much hair today as I did back then.

So, settle in and enjoy this conversation with Magnolia’s longtime barber and storyteller, Don Higdon.

🎧 Listen to This Episode

Season 3, Episode 2

 Reclaiming life through art

John Ferguson (right) with some of his art

What do you do with 37 years of high-stress law enforcement experience? If you're John Ferguson, you trade in your badge for a welder and start finding the beauty in the broken.

Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we're talking to a fellow I’ve known for quite some time. John spent 37 years in law enforcement right here in South Central Arkansas, finishing his career at the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy.

John has a fascinating story. He graduated from Magnolia High School in 1982, went into the military, and came back to enroll at Southern Arkansas University as a history major. But a simple ride-along with a friend who was a police officer was all it took—he was hooked on a career in service.

As you can imagine, decades of police work can be incredibly stressful and began causing John some health problems. So, he looked for a way to relieve that pressure and found it in an entirely new world: metal art.

Now calling his business Metal Art by Ferguson, John has only one rule for his creations: all elements have to have been something else in a previous life. He detects the possibility in every miscellaneous piece of trash, giving it a new life.

One of his most unique pieces is an eight-foot-tall female figure commissioned by a lady who had recently moved to Mt. Ida from Illinois. Her only stipulations were that it had to be a woman wearing a dress and be tall. And so was created the Eight Foot Fairy Godmother!

Mt. Ida is now home for John and Diane, drawn by the crystal clear lake waters where he learned to scuba dive. We caught up with John at the recent car show at Immanuel Baptist Church so you'll need to excuse the background noise of motorcycles and announcers! John showed us all of his incredible work, including the story behind the massive 8-foot woman sculpture he once completed on commission. He even revealed that he writes poetry!

You can reach John by email at Metalartbyferguson@yahoo.com or by phone at 870-914-0876. Drop by Ouachita Artists Gallery the next time you’re in Mt. Ida where his work is on exhibit.

And click the button below to hear my interview with John. It’s an inspiring conversation about service, stress, and the power of transformation. Let’s dive in!

Season Two, Episode 12

 The country store lives on!

Andrew (left) and Philip Story

Philip Story grew up his formative years in the small community of Macedonia, some seven miles south of Magnolia at the intersection of Arkansas Hwys. 19 and 160. He grew up walking up the road to one of the two Franks' grocery stores that served the community. Nearly everything was sold there, including ice cold Coca Colas and those lemon flavored Jackson cookies that were sold out of the big glass jar.

Today, Philip is the co-owner not only of his own country store but the one remaining Franks store  building as well. In December of 2022, the ribbon was cut on Keith's Grocery Store a mile or so north of the old Franks store. Along with his wife Terri, son and daughter-in-law Andrew and Sarah Story and daughter Gretchen Wooley, it’s a family effort running the store that has been serving the Macedonia community for decades. It was opened by William Keith  Sr., and carried on by his son, William "Butch" Keith, Jr. Butch passed away in August of 2021 inside the store he loved and served most of his life.

The store remained closed until Philip, recently retired from Albemarle, developed a hankering to return to a profession he had enjoyed in his younger years--grocer! In December of 2022 the Story family held a ribbon cutting at Keith's Grocery was open again serving the Macedonia community.

History repeats itself! Macedonia once was home to not one but two country stores, both just a stone's throw away from each other. How two stores managed to thrive and survive so close to each other in a small community has always been a mystery to me. Macedonia once again has not one but two stores serving its population.

"It was a surprise but we've just tried to put our best foot forward doing what we do as good as we can and find a way to it better and treat our customers as we want to be treated ourselves," Philip told me when I asked about the opening of another store adjoining Keith's Grocery. They've not seen a decrease in sales since the new store opened and they still offer a down-home meat counter with a selection you want find fresher or personally cut to order elsewhere.

I enjoyed my interview with Philip as much as any I've done here in Lower Arkansas. The fact that my dad and his mom were first cousins and we both had family roots in Macedonia made it that much more enjoyable. Take a moment to listen to today's podcast and you may soon find yourself shopping at Keith's Grocery, 

Season Two, Episode 11

How to bottom chairs? Bo knows!

Bo Jameson

I've been intrigued by old-timey chairs and rockers as long as I can remember. With a last name like Ford, it's only natural. Heck, my mom rocked me and my two siblings in a sewing rocker gifted her at the birth of my much older big brother!

Our local historian, Mike Gee, has written an excellent article on my great grandfather and the Ford Chair Factory he founded. You can find it at Mike's Facebook page, Columbia County Arkansas History and Genealogies. It's worth the time to stop and read. So when I was recently gifted a Ford rocker in excellent condition, I was intrigued by the business card I found stuck in the woven chair bottom.

The business card led me to Bo Jameson, a distant cousin himself who resides right here in Magnolia. Bo graciously consented to an interview. He shared with me how he became interested in putting new bottoms in old chairs. Our visit reminded me that we had met before, once at the Magnolia Blossom Festival a few years back and probably long, long ago when he worked with my dad, Melroy Ford, at the old Napa Auto Parts located back then on South Washington Street.

Bo gave me instructions to his house and noted that there was a speed limit sign hanging from a tree in his front yard. What he didn't tell me was that there was also an old chair sitting out by the curb waiting for trash pickup. It was a fitting indicator for a guy who works on chairs, but it didn't stay there long. While we talked, some fellow in a pickup truck stopped, examined the chair, and placed it in the back of his truck. Maybe he's a future chair expert in the making!

Bo and Mary graciously invited me in and their two dogs, Petey and Lulu, also made me feel right at home. Wait until you hear the story about Lulu, the little chihuahua they've just recently added to their family! I told them they should name the dog Tripod, but they already had a better name picked out!

The original Ford chairs were fitted with cowhide bottoms which were eventually replaced with other materials, such as Hong Kong grass from China or fiber made from bullrush plants here in the U.S.  The South Arkansas Heritage Museum features a number of Ford chairs. They recently added a beautiful child’s rocker with a cowhide bottom that shows what that early bottom looked like. Take a look here at their Facebook page.

Bo has experimented with different types of cord, which he explains in my interview. Some of the bottoms are pretty straight forward, while others incorporate unique designs such as horse heads, flowers and even an Arkansas Razorback.

Simply Unique selection of chairs

Bo is self-taught in the art of re-bottoming chairs, having learned it from a two-part article in a woodworking magazine. He's put bottoms in wood chairs as well as metal, and boasts that he can put a bottom in anything that has four cross-pieces to support it. He picked up so many aluminum and metal frame chairs to give new life that they began to set aside frames for him at the metal recycling yard!

He shared an intriguing legend he had heard about the meeting of Doc Ford and Henry Ford. Seems Henry came to visit Doc at the Ford Chair Factory and spent some time talking with him. Some time later a brand-new Ford car was delivered to the chair factory owner as a gift. 

I've never heard that story before, so if anyone can confirm or verify, please let me know! Henry Ford was known to give cars to friends, family members and employees as tokens of appreciation or goodwill. He once gave one to President Woodrow Wilson, so it could have happened! Meantime, I've written to the Henry Ford Museum to see if they know anything about it. Perhaps there is a Ford rocker sitting somewhere at the museum!

I referred one of the questions I am most frequently asked to Bo for clarification. How can you tell if an old wooden rocking chair is a Ford chair or not? There are a few tell-tale signs to look for, he told me:

1. A small groove or cove turned in to the top of the chair upright, leaving a rounded finial at the top of the chair. There are also a couple of indentations turned in to the two uprights between the top and bottom slats of the back. There are probably specific terms known by lathe operators, but that's the best I can do! 

2. A fine line turned in to the upright at the location of slats and rounds to indicate their location. The line will resemble a faint pencil line.

3. No screws or nails are used to hold the chair rounds or slats in to the upright pieces. The rounds were made of dried hickory and had a small bulb at the end similar to the tip of a drumstick. The dried rounds were driven into the uprights, which were turned from uncured or "wet" white bay lumber. When the bay dried around the hickory rounds, the chair could not be pulled out! The only hardware used in Ford rocking chairs are the screws holding the armrests to the uprights, carriage bolts attaching the rockers, and a couple of finishing nails driven in to the uprights to secure the armrests.

In the small shop he has to the side of his home, Bo showed me five or six chairs he is currently working on. He doesn't take in as many chairs as he once did, but he is still open to receiving a few. It takes him about two days of labor to complete one chair, so it is somewhat a labor of love. Watching him demonstrate how the weaving is done, there is an element of knitting that keeps the string in place. Most days now he uses macrame string that is more readily available than grass from China! 

Some of his finished products are on sale at Simply Unique at 110 North Washington in Magnolia.  That includes the shiny black beauty he is shown working on in the photo above, which he delivered this week. Of course I had to drop by the store on Tuesday morning to take a look and snap a few photos. I enjoyed the warm welcome I received and thought what a good place the store would be to open up my own booth!

At one time most rural homes featured large front porches, and they were traditionally equipped with wooden chairs or rockers. I remember sitting with my grandfather, Adley Ford, on his front porch in the Macedonia community. Whenever a car sped by in front of his place on Arkansas Highway 160 he would lean forward, shouting out, "Get on down that road!" And then he would go back to rocking in his well-worn Ford rocker.

Ron Ford, Louise Hendricks, Bo Jameson

We have lots of family memories centered around Ford chairs and chair bottoms. My brother and sister and their spouses would come in for the Blossom Festival and it was a perfect family reunion. We once ran into Bo a few years back when he was still showing chair bottoms at the festival. Who should walk up but our first cousin, the late Louise Nipper Hendricks, herself a Macedonia girl who knew much about the chairs and their history. Nothing would do but to snap a photo. 

If you wonder how to put a new bottom in an old chair, Bo knows. Click the link below to hear my interview! And you can contact Bo by phone at 870-234-2165 or by email at bodiddle@suddenlink.net.

Season Two, Episode 10

Preserving history, moving a church

David Covey

David Covey is owner and operator of D & E House Moving Company out of Hot Springs, Ar.  I spent a good bit of time watching David, his daughter Amy Moss and a few others of his crew moving the Mt. Prospect Methodist Episcopal South Church 18 miles to Southern Arkansas University.

On one of his final days at the site, David spared a few minutes to visit with me and answer some questions. Here is the transcript of our conversation, as the original audio was difficult to hear in some places due to wind noise. If you want to hear the interview, scroll to the bottom to find the play button, as well as a list of resources concerning the church.

Steve Ford: A lot of people have had moving experiences in church, but one man has had a moving experience moving a church. So it's my privilege today to talk to David Covey, owner and operator of what's the name of that company?

David Covey: D&E House Moving.

S.F.: D and E House moving. You have just finished moving one of the biggest buildings I've ever seen moved. This is the old Mount Prospect Methodist Episcopal South church building that was up there near Stephens. David, what was it like?

D.C.: It was a little bit low to the ground. It could have used some more air underneath it to be able to get underneath it a little better. But it was all right. It’s in real good shape.

S.F.: You've moved some other buildings out here at the Southern Arkansas University campus, haven't you?

D.C.: Yes, all of them.

S.F.: The Ozmer House, the Alexander House and now the church. Which one was the hardest to move? 

D.C.: I don't know. The Ozmer house there….

S.F.: It didn't have to go very far anyway.

D.C.: No, it was widest in the way it was built in like they built them in the 1800s. It was a breezeway and we had to support both sides of the house and everything, to keep the porch from falling apart and everything separating. But I guess the church there was a pretty good tackle there. We had to take the roof down. I wasn't supposed to have to take the roof down.

S.F.: Oh, really?

D.C.: Yeah, well, the college was going to do that and I accidentally put in (the contract) there, “If they couldn't find nobody to take the roof down, I would take it down.” That's the biggest mistake I made.

S.F.: Oh really? I’ve been there! “If you can't find anybody, I will do it.”

D.C.: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake I made.

S.F.: Oh, man. Well, I hope they compensated you for that. So you had to jack the building up, move it off the the piers and they prebuilt the piers out here (at the new site), right?

D.C.: Yeah, they, they put them up, but like we've been behind for about four or five months. So they went ahead and laid the piers, they went out and I guess measured and did real good out there and did a good job of it.

S.F.: So you sat it right down on the new piers here?

D.C.: It’s going to.

S.F.: So you had to jack it up and then you moved it kind of over to the edge of the property. What kept that building from just falling apart?

D.C.: Well, a little bit of knowledge and stretching them cables around it top and bottom. Squeeze it together there because   them old antique nails are like wedges. If they're loose, they get real loose and they'll work right on out.

S.F.: I think you told me those are 2 by 4s, but it's the old 2 by 4….

D.C.: Two by fours and everything roughs off and they were held in there.

S.F.: The building didn't have a ceiling. It was just I guess they added the ceiling. They added a ceiling fan. Can you imagine what it was like without?

D.C.: I don't know. In that condition I would have been worried that that ceiling not having no bridge beam down the middle holding that ceiling.

S.F.: I guess it had a beam, they said they would like candles up there (on the beams) to have lights. It was used as a school also. How wide would you say this building was?

D.C.: She's 30 feet wide and 40, I think 42 feet long.

S.F.: How wide is the county road?

D.C.: It's a little less than that, but we had plenty of ditch way, ditch clearance on the trees and everything.

S.F.: And you had a few tree limbs you had to deal with?

D.C.: Yeah, we had one major tree limb had to deal with up there on the state highway.

S.F.: Yeah, I happened to come up on you when you were cutting that limb. I guess you always run into things you don't expect?

D.C.: Yeah, sometimes. Yep, there's always something.

S.F.: Then you got it on to the campus that you pulled….

D.C.: Well, it was raining.

S.F.: You had to fight rain.

D.C.: Yeah, we had to leave it out there for a day or two out in a good hard driveway to let it dry a couple days and we started again across….

S.F.: ….across the grass and park next to the piers. How did you get it from next to the piers onto the piers?

D.C.: We just raised it up and put another set of beams under it. And Ivory bar soap.

S.F.: So Ivory! you told me you were going to use Ivory soap. I thought, I can't always tell when that guy's telling me the truth.

D.C.: (Chuckles)

S.F.: But you did tell me you were going to jack it up and it just slide into place.

D.C.: Mmmm, hmm.

S.F.: That's, that's not how you moved it, though.

D.C.: Yeah, we raised it up and well, we used, oh, then we used the skytrack to pull it.

S.F.: Oh, you did have it raised on that side, didn't raise it up. And then you use the sky track to pull it on over.

D.C.: Yep.

S.F.: Then nothing to it,

D.C.: Nothing, it was all downhill. The main thing on them soaped beams, you keep them level. You don't want it to just slide off.  It will go faster than you want it to, if you don't keep everything under control.

S.F.: I think they're going to have to replace some of those original beams underneath.

D.C.: Yeah, someone replaced some of them and they're going to take them back out, I think, and replace the bad beams that's on each end around the doorways.

S.F.: Your work is almost over now you've got it in place putting the original rafters back up. What else do you have to do out here?

D.C.: Just let it down 7 inches on them piers when they get done fixing those beams. They got to do their woodwork before I let it on the piers.

S.F.: Oh, OK. But you still got it in place.

D.C.: Yeah, it's still sitting on 4 level creepers….

S.F.: ….and you will finish the rafters shortly.

D.C.: Yeah, very shortly. If that storm hadn’t come through last night and now

S.F.: Y’all were going to work till midnight (last night) to get it done!

D.C.: It started lightning and we had to get down. We didn't lack much!

S.F.: Tell me, you've got like a pretty good crew out here. Tell me who your crew is.

D.C.: Amy Moss is the main hand and that five little crew. I had the short crew, but they couldn't get on the roof.  The ground crew, they’re the ground crew.

David Covey, Amy Moss
& the Short Crew

S.F.: You did have them soaping those beams though, didn't you?

D.C.: Yeah....

S.F.: What’s next on the agenda for David Covey and D&E house moving?

D.C.: We got a little one over in Sheridan that needs to be moved about 60 feet off the property where the guy can close his loan. And immediately after that, we're going to Oakland, Georgia, going to load up onto a barge and go four miles out in the ocean.

S.F.: I heard you were going to be moving a house out in the ocean.

D.C.: You show him that picture of the house? And we have 4 hours and I think my brother said four hours and 20 something minutes before the tide comes in.

S.F.: Are you kidding?

D.C.: No.

S.F.: You got a close schedule there. You'll have to get Amy to watch your schedule!

D.C.: We got to get it up and on wheels and get out of the ocean in 4 hours.

S.F.:  (Looking at photo of house.) Oh my gosh. Look at that.

D.C.: There's three stories.

S.F.: Three stories! It's up on piers....

D.C.: Piles, they’re on big pylons.

S.F.: You've got to move that house.  Good grief.

D.C.: It's 60 feet wide and a little over 100 feet long.

S.F.: But you're not moving it off the island?

D.C.: It’s going about 500 feet, it’s going from probably right here to that front house, about 500 feet.

S.F.: That'll be a fun 500 feet. How did you ever get into house moving?

D.C.: Just growed up around it. My dad worked for my uncle, which was his brother  and we just took a liking to it.

S.F.: And you took a liking to it?

D.C.: I quit it twice whenever I was 19 or 20 and come back to it and finally just give up and took a liking to it and just started doing it.

S.F.: So how long have you been moving houses?

D.C.: About 35 years.

S.F.: Wow, you got some experience?

D.C.: No, I'm done with it. My experience is done. (laughter)

S.F.: What was the favorite house you ever moved?  

D.C.: I moved one in Hot Springs there that was 56 feet wide and 134 foot long, 42 feet tall.

S.F.: Did you have to cut it in half?

D.C.: No, we just moved it in one piece.

S.F.: Wow!

D.C.: It weighed 436,000 pounds.

S.F.: What would you say to someone who was thinking about going into the house moving business?

D.C.: Make sure he's got plenty of kids that wants to work.

S.F.: Oh yeah, and have and have a good insurance policy?

D.C.: Yeah, a good insurance policy!

S.F.: OK, I’ve estered you all for the last 10 days or so. I've gotten some good pictures and enjoyed visiting with you and Amy and the short crew too.

D.C.: I appreciate the pictures.

S.F.: Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're going to share those. I'm doing a write up that the MagnoliaReporter is going to publish it and I'm going to send them some pictures and a a pretty long write up. There's a fascinating history behind this building and you're now part of it.

D.C.: I'm part of the historical part of Bella Vista too.

S.F.: Oh, really?

D.C.: We went and picked up a building.  You could say this hill was a ravine, but that ravine fell about 90 feet straight down.

S.F.: Wow.

D.C.: We backed in there. There were a couple trees and we picked up that old, old cabin and picked it up. Had come up off the side of that hill and up and out of there. We had to keep it from going down the hill and then take it down to the Historical Society. It was about, I don't know, they filmed us all the way and it was 100 and I don't know, it was old, old, old. It was some of the first cabins built up in Bella Vista and stuff, log cabins and stuff.

S.F.: I guess it's kind of like carpentry. They say measure twice and cut once. You got to really measure well and know what you're getting into.

D.C.: But them was hand hewed, hand hewed logs and wooden pegs.

S.F.: Well, I appreciate you taking time to visit with us and thanks for letting my drone buzz you. It's been around, we've had a good time taking some good pictures and look forward to seeing these in print very shortly. Thanks for visiting with us.

D.C.: Thank you, sir!

!

 Other resources:

My Mt. Prospect Article on Magnolia Reporter.

Dedication of Alexander-Warnock House on Magnolia Reporter.

Article about Mt. Prospect grant on Magnolia Reporter.

Mt. Prospect history from Banner-News article on Facebook 

SAU article on ANCRC Grant

National Register of Historic Places listing on Mt. Prospect

Finally, need a house moved? Check out D&E House Moving!