Ginger Beebe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First Lady of Arkansas | |
| In role January 2007 –January 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Janet Huckabee |
| Succeeded by | Susan Hutchinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 3,1949 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Arkansas State University-Beebe University of Central Arkansas |
Ginger Kay Croom Beebe (born September 3, 1949) is an American activist and the wife of former Arkansas governor, Mike Beebe. She served as the first lady of Arkansas, from January 2007 until January 2015.
Beebe was born on September 3, 1949, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was adopted when she was four years old by Buell Croom, a wholesale distributor for Amoco Oil Company, and Virginia Croom, a homemaker. She was raised in Searcy, Arkansas and attended Searcy High School, where she was a member of the drill team and the choreography board. She attended Arkansas State University-Beebe and the University of Central Arkansas. [1] [2]
In 1968, she married David Powell Jr. and the couple lived in Dallas, Texas, while her husband attended mortuary school and then moved to Judsonia, Arkansas, and Searcy. They had two children, David Powell III and Tammy Powell. The couple divorced and Beebe met Mike Beebe, an attorney, while working with the Searcy Junior Auxiliary. They married in 1979. They had one son, named Kyle Houston Beebe. [1]
Beebe was the fortieth First Lady of Arkansas. [2] While her husband was working as a politician, she began campaigning on the reform of mental health services. She was influenced by a family friend and her son-in-law dying by suicide in 2006. [1] [3] She was focused on removing the stigma and helping people access support. She worked with organizations, including Reading Is Fundamental, Reach Out and Read, Read Across America, Read for the Record, and Together We Read, to promote literacy. She also shared her travels with the Flat Stanley project. [1] [2] She volunteered for Beta Sigma Phi and Central Arkansas Hospital Auxiliary and served on the board of the CARTI foundation, the Women's Foundation of Arkansas, and the Arkansas Discovery Network. [4] In 2011, she was named Woman of the Year by Women & Children First. [5]
Following her husband's retirement as governor in January 2015, the couple moved back to Searcy. Beebe has continued to work on advocacy and collaborate with other former first ladies of Arkansas on an exhibit at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. [1]
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,822. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a Whig candidate for President of the United States. It is an alcohol prohibition or dry county, though a few private establishments can serve alcohol.
Searcy County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,828. The county seat is Marshall. The county was formed December 13, 1838, from a portion of Marion County and named for Richard Searcy, the first clerk and judge in the Arkansas Territory. The city of Searcy, Arkansas, some 70 miles away, shares the name despite having never been part of Searcy County. The county is an alcohol prohibition or dry county.
Beebe is a city in White County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 7,315 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the second most populous in the county. The city is home to Arkansas State University-Beebe. ASU-Beebe also has branch campuses in Heber Springs and Searcy and at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2019 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 23,767. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County. The city takes its name from Richard Searcy, a judge for the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory. A college town, Searcy is the home of Harding University and ASU-Searcy.
Michael Avery Ross is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 2001 to 2013 and was his party's nominee for governor of Arkansas in 2014. He is currently the last Democrat to have represented Arkansas in the House of Representatives. He was also a member of the Arkansas Senate from 1991 to 2001, a member of the Nevada County Quorum Court from 1983 to 1985, and a small business owner.
George Fisher was an American political cartoonist.
The 2006 Arkansas gubernatorial election took place on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Huckabee was barred from seeking candidacy due to term limits set by the State Constitution in 1998, stating that the Governor may only serve two terms in their lifetime. Democratic State Attorney General Mike Beebe, defeated Republican former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson by a wide margin. This was the first open seat election since 1978. Hutchinson later won the governorship in 2014 when Beebe was term limited.
Mickey Dale Beebe is an American politician and attorney who served as the 45th governor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. He is to date the last Democrat to hold that office.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas. The current party chair is Grant Tennille. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, and served as state governor from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992.
The Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) is the primary sanctioning body for high school sports in state of Arkansas. AAA is a member association of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA). Every public secondary school in Arkansas is a de jure member of the AAA, and most private schools, save for a few schools in the delta that belong to the Mississippi Private Schools Association and 22 Christian schools who belong to the Heartland Christian Athletic Association, are included in membership.
The Arkansas State University System, based in Little Rock, serves almost 40,000 students annually on campuses in Arkansas and Queretaro, Mexico, and globally online.
Betty Lou Bumpers was an American politician, advocate for childhood immunizations, and world peace activist, who served as the First Lady of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975. Together, she and Rosalynn Carter ran a successful campaign to ensure that all American school children were immunized. Bumpers was the wife of Dale Bumpers, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975 and as a U.S. Senator from 1975 to 1999.
James Robert Hannah was an American jurist. After attending college and law school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Hannah opened a private law practice in Searcy. He practiced law for a decade, entering public service in part-time city attorney and city judge roles in small towns across the Arkansas Grand Prairie. He won election as Chancery Judge of the 17th District in 1979, and held the position until 1999, when he was nominated to the Arkansas Supreme Court. He served as an associate justice for four years, becoming chief justice in 2005. Hannah held the top position for ten years, until resigning in 2015.
Rhonda K. Wood is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2015. She previously served as a judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals from 2013 to 2014, and as a trial court judge for the Arkansas 20th Judicial Circuit from 2007 to 2012.
Highway 36 is a state highway in Central Arkansas. The highway begins at U.S. Highway 64 (US 64) at Hamlet and runs east through several small communities to Searcy, where it serves as the Beebe-Capps Expressway, a major crosstown arterial roadway. Following a discontinuity at US 64/US 67/US 167, the highway continues east to Kensett as Wilbur D. Mills Avenue before state maintenance ends at the small community of Georgetown. This highway is maintained by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT).
Mary Kavanaugh Eagle was an American community leader, clubwoman, book editor, and activist in Protestant missionary work. She served as president of the Woman's Central Committee on Missions since 1882, and was the first president of the Woman's Mission Union, of Arkansas. As a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Commission, and as chair of the Committee on Congresses, she was selected as editor of the papers read. Eagle served as First Lady of Arkansas during her husband's two terms as the state's 16th Governor.
Sarah Edith Sonneman Agee is an American politician who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
Eliza Jane Burnett Dodson Ashley, or best known as Liza Ashley, was an American cook and author. She was the executive chef at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion from 1956 to 1990. She authored the cookbook Thirty Years at the Mansion in 1985.
Will Etta Long Oates was an American philanthropist, social activist and politician in the state of Arkansas. She was known as the "Hat Lady" for her large collection of flamboyant hats.
Hillary Clinton served as first lady of Arkansas during the two governorships of her husband, Bill Clinton. During her husband's first governorship, she was known as Hillary Rodham. However, in his second governorship, she made use of the name Hillary Rodham Clinton.