by Vivian Lawson Hogue

Visitors and residents alike love Conway’s old trees even though our centuries-old examples sometimes drop limbs or are pruned into Dr. Seuss trees. I have mentioned Arkansas’s “Champion Trees” before, and felt that autumn would be a good time to learn more about them. And what could be better than to acknowledge that our city has two specimens? The Champion Sawtooth Oak belongs to Marcell Mauldin, and Ron and Pat Spradlin own a mammoth variety of Hackberry.  

The Spradlins only recently received their honor, so I asked if I might have more information about it and how it has fit into their family. Ron stated that the tree is located on their property on Dave Ward Drive. They resided there until 2001, when they moved to their present home. “The tree was a mature tree on 16 acres when we purchased the property in 1974,” he said. “In fact, we chose to place our then-new home there so that the tree was in our front yard.”

Pat adds, “The Hackberry and Sugarberry are hard to tell apart. In 2001, it was identified as a Hackberry by the Forestry Commission, and estimated to be over 200 years old. Our children had it measured and it was said to be the second largest of its kind in Arkansas. On Father’s Day, they gave this information to Ron in a book about their memories and life in and under that tree.

“The largest Hackberry in that year was located on the courthouse grounds in Corning, Ark., but when we found it was destroyed in a storm, we assumed ours was now the largest. The Forestry Commission measured the tree again in April of this year and determined it to be the Champion Tree in Arkansas as a Sugarberry, or Southern Hackberry. The documentation is being done by the AFC by Krista Quinn, Urban Forestry Partnership Coordinator and Greg White, Faulkner Ranger.”

A tree is measured in three dimensions – trunk circumference, height and average crown spread. A formula determines its “Bigness Index.”  It is Cii + Hif + ¼ aSif = B.I. (Circumference in inches, plus height in feet, plus 1/4 the average spread in feet.) The total dimensions in 2001 were circumference,13’ 10”; height, 61’; spread, 94 ½’ with a total “Bigness” of 231. In 2018, its circumference had increased to 17.4’ with a height of 86’, a spread of 91’ with a “bigness” of 317.25.

Ron’s gift of “Dad’s Big Tree Book” is full of the children’s natural and spiritual lessons learned from the tree. Pat recalls toddlers Lorrie and Kevin shouting, “Mom! It’s fall! Fall is starting!” The family worked and played together under the tree as they shucked corn, snapped beans and shelled peas from their garden.

Ron was born in Pearson (Cleburne County) to Lescley and Josie Fulton Spradlin. He grew up in the Mount Vernon area and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1959. He attended college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, then Arkansas State Teachers College (now University of Central Arkansas). He began his career in the mobile home industry and retired from Keathley-Patterson Wholesale Electric after 31 years as purchasing manager.

Pat is a native of Conway, born to James Edwin and Mildred Mobbs Willbanks. She attended Conway schools, graduating in 1959. She also attended BYU and ASTC, graduating in 1965 with a BSE in Art and English. She and Ron were married in 1962 and have six children, 20 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Their oldest child, Malinda Smith (Michael) of Greenbrier, is an elementary school teacher and founder of a therapeutic horsemanship center known as Sunrise Riders. Of the tree, she says, “In the heart of the tree was the place where I felt safest with its large limbs on all sides cradling and protecting me. Dad taught us that, ‘What you will be someday, you are now becoming,’ as each in the family realized how important our choices are, and that just like the tree, we grow a little every day.”  

Shelly Duke (Sean) of Vilonia is a registered nurse, illustrator and artist. She feels the tree has traits of her father – strong, reliable, governing, shielding and protecting.  

Randy (Felicia) of Conway is co-owner of KSI Construction and Capitol Investment Group and a reserve officer with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Department. As the oldest brother, it was incumbent upon him to lead by example. He remembers climbing high in the tree and being the rope installer for a swing. The first one, a simple large knot at the end, was used by grasping the rope high above the knot and pulling oneself up to rest their feet on the knot. “I began delivering the Log Cabin Democrat at age 12,” he said. “In hot summer months I brought my load of papers beneath the tree, rolled them tight and secured them with blue rubber bands.”

Lorrie Ozley (Ray) of Calera, Ala., is a preschool director and serves on the board of Parnell Memorial Library Foundation. Once, when she was afraid to come down from the tree, she asked Ron if he could just leave her there. He said, “You know the rule. You have to get up in the tree by yourself, and with no help, to get down by yourself. You’ll learn that someday.”

Kevin (Carli) is a mortgage loan originator in Lehi, Utah. For him, learning to climb the tree taught him about making progress regardless of skinned knees and fear of falling.  

Danny (Jaci) in Crestwood, Ky., is an airline transport pilot for Atlas Airline. He says their property was his refuge from the world as he climbed high in the tree and watched things below.

The enchantment of the Champion Tree is a common feeling among the children. Shelly perhaps said it best in a verse of her poetry. “Climb up in her arms and dream a dream, or wait until night and catch a real moonbeam.” 

Vivian Lawson Hogue

A native of Conway, Vivian Lawson Hogue graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in art education. A retired teacher, she worked in the Conway School District for 23 years. She can be reached at [email protected].