By Louie Graves
Leader staff
This won’t be the first time Loren Hinton has been president of a chamber of commerce board of directors.
Hinton, a proud 1978 grad of Winthrop High School, was president of the Little River County Chamber of Commerce before he joined a radio buddy to start a broadcast sequence at UA-Cossatot.
Before that he spent 30-plus years at radio stations at De Queen and Ashdown. In 2012 he joined that radio buddy, now-Chancellor Steve Cole, at UA-Cossatot. Today he manages the college’s two radio stations, teaches related classes and oversees the school internet connections.
He also finds time to be a speaker for many events in the communities where the college has a presence. In Nashville, he has become the regular master of ceremonies for such events as the Golden Gathering and the Stand Up for America Gala.
Hinton will be the second person to serve as Nashville chamber board president while living in another town. He lives north of De Queen and drives to the campus here for his morning radio show. The other non-resident to serve as Nashville Chamber of Commerce board president was Wendy Haddan, who lives in Mineral Springs and works in Nashville.
Tourism, which he describes as a “clean industry,” will be his focus during his chamber presidency. “You can just look at southeast Oklahoma to see the visitor traffic. There is so much potential in southwest Arkansas.”
He will officially be handed the gavel by outgoing president Tammy Gibson at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards banquet in a few weeks.
Since its founding in 1921, five persons have served more than one term as chamber president. They are the founding board president, “Peach King” Bert Johnson, who served from 1921-24 and in 1931, and David Pile, Ralph Wilson, Deb Kinkade and Price Kreul. Several presidents, including current executive director Mike Reese, served terms lasting more than one year.
Nine women have served as chamber president, breaking the all-male tradition in 1997.
Although the chamber was organized here in 1921, there were apparently some early years in which it was inactive. Photos of past presidents line a wall in the back room of the chamber’s office on Main Street. Hinton’s silver-haired visage will join them.
Presidents and their
years include the following:
1921-24 Bert Johnson
1925-30 George E. Bell
1931 Bert Johnson
1938-39 Glen Wallace
1940-41 Rex Ramsay
1942 Cecil Callaham
1944 Forest Wilson
1945 R.M. Stuart
1946 Bob McClure
1947 Boyd Tackett, H.A. Firmin
1948 Nathan Coulter
1949 Dave Ryan
1950 Hearn Latimer
1953 Frank Elder
1954 Louis “Swampy” Graves
1955 Bobby Steel
1956 Ralph Wilson
1957 Jack Rorex
1960 Jay Toland
1961 Deward Sharp
1962 Lester Stueart
1963 Neely Cassady
1964 Don Coulter
1965 Bernie Kreul
1966 David Pile
1967 Edgar McCrary
1968 Pat Honeycutt
1969 Al Backus
1970 Ralph Wilson
1971 Ronny Blakely
1972 James Chandler
1973 Dale Hamilton
1974 Edwin Dale
1975 Bruce Anthony
1976 Joe Branch
1977 Pete Gathright
1978 David Boden, Roy Reaves
1979 David Pile
1980 Kenneth Wilson
1981 Louie Graves
1982 Price Kreul
1983 Rick Castleberry
1984 Herschell Teague
1985 Mike Reese
1986 Mike Reese
1987 Larry Teague
1988 Dennis McBride
1989 Wendell Hoover
1990 Jerry Jacobs
1991 Sammie Cox
1992 Don Cooley
1993 Greg Tate
1994 Mike Kinkade
1995 Rob Hainen
1996 Donnie Parrish
1997 Deb Kinkade
1998 Roger Cox
1999 Roger Cox, Deb Kinkade
2000 Price Kreul
2001 Sheila Kreul
2002 Floyd Clark, Jr.
2003 Don White, Sr.
2004 Tina Chism
2005 Ronny Woods
2006 Earl Sanders
2007 Cary Lott
2008 Charlie Peek
2009 John Gray
2010 Rusty Hagler
2011 Dena Tollett
2012 Tim Pinkerton
2013 Wendy Haddan
2014 Mary Woodruff
2015 Ouida Terrell
2016 Noelle Couch
2017 Will Martin
2018 Bill Craig
2019 Tammy Gibson
2020 Loren Hinton
