Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR

These pictures are like a Norman Rockwell painting. Rockwell could have made a great magazine cover. It would show very deserving small-town soldiers visiting home and posing beside the bank. He'd have put in the weeds growing beside the sidewalk, the car in the background, the wrinkles in the uniforms, and even the cracks in the street.

My dad, at my wedding, wore his tie poked into the shirt like these guys. He never wore a tie but when he put one on for the big night, I was quite frankly mortified. Evidently, according to these guys, it was a fashion during WWII, for which my father was drafted. I'd never seen such a fashion.

Rockwell would have made the sign in the back readable. I'll have to depend on Searcy Arkansas historians to tell me what the sign said. They can also name the guys if they know them.

This picture is showing our queen of Searcy, Corrine Hart, who grew up in Searcy and helped Searcy grow up. She lived to be over 100. She is Anita Fuller's mother and Anita supplied this photo.

Where is she posing? I think it is the statue that is on the Court Square. I went there today and took a picture of Searcy as it is today. I got the statue seat, the lamp and possibly the three windowed building in the background.

I'll wait for my Searcy experts to tell me whether I'm right or not. This picture shows the South side of the Court Square.

The lamp post certainly looks similar.

It's great to go in and explore the history of Searcy in White County Arkansas.

I can almost see Corrine sitting on this pedestal and flinging her purse on the pedestal also.

We have friends who have lived in the same house for years and a house which used to be in the country.

Driving to visit them seemed to take a long time a long time ago. After all, it was in the country.

Now the city has grown out to meet them. But they have certain privileges because they are "grandfathered in." For one thing, they have a lovely horse barn and corral for the horses.

They can keep a donkey or a horse and still walk to the grocery store. Their latest pets are chickens. We rode over to the house and saw chickens roaming free. They remarked, "They'll come home to roost." When the rooster starts crowing early in the morning, however, they may have a few angry neighbors calling.

It's a wonderful set-up, the country right in town! They have found their gold at the end of the rainbow!

My house is full of old pictures in old frames and realism prevails.

Look what I bought last week.......................................

Why's it still on the floor?

I've gotta find a spot for it in my over-picture-decorated house.

Searcy Sunshine School is a school for exceptional children that was founded back in the 60's by the Searcy Junior Auxiliary. They're trying to raise money for a new, bigger building. Our Board of Realtors has contributed several thousand dollars each year by having an auction and giving the proceeds to the School.

One of our fellow Realtors paints and does a darned good job of it. She does abstracts and I love her muted colors.

She donated this painting and I outbid everyone else just to bring it home with me, support her art, and give money to a good cause.

So who is this artist? Here she is. Kelly VanHook. She also has great skill with taking pictures of events and placing them on a website for everyone to enjoy.

The website with her photos and her art can be found here.

I called her up today and told her I had a complaint and a compliment. The complaint was that I'd been fascinated by her pictorial of Searcy Arkansas events and parties. She captures people as they are having fun. Expressions are priceless and I love the starkness of some of the photos with dark backgrounds and nicely lighted faces.

<<<<<<<<<<<Sorta like this one of her.

The complaint was that I'd stayed on line for two hours just exploring them and I shoulda been working!

The compliment is, of course, in the same paragraph above. I told her she may be another Disfarmer, our Heber Springs eccentric photographer whose works bring thousands of dollars now but cost a quarter when taken.

She's also an excellent Realtor, a good person, an organized individual and I hope a good friend of mine!

P. S. Don't tell her that I didn't put up her real estate web page. After all, she is my competitor!!!!!!!

Seems as if Security Bank, which is now First Security Bank, was a lovely building where lots of photos were taken. First Security Bank in Searcy Arkansas has just remodeled this bank to look original as in these pictures.

These two ladies are posing at the same spot.

The first lady below in the fur coat (which we're afraid to wear now) is unknown unless some of my readers can identify her. Notice the old city lamp post reflected in her picture. Reportedly these antiques were later on sold and replaced with more modern ones. What's that thing under the lamp post?

The second lady is our famous Corrine Hart, Anita Fuller's mother, who lived to be 100 and actually suggested the name Security Bank. Notice at the end of the street is First Methodist Church, a landmark and still in existence

Of interest to the fashion conscious, note the shoes.....almost the same.....gotta have fashion just as we have today! And the skirts then had to be the same length to be in style.