Henderson State University Hall of Famer and retired Col. Bobby Jones will deliver the keynote speech for the Clark County Memorial Day Celebration.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, 2024, at the Courthouse Gazebo, 419 Clay St., Arkadelphia.

Greg Vardaman will serve as the event emcee.

The program will be as follows: Posting of Colors by Arkadelphia High School JROTC; prayer by Rev. Robert Davis; Pledge of Allegiance by Jordan Martin; National Anthem by Georgina Battle; Roll Call of Fallen Veterans by Louis Craig and VSO Earnestine Hatley; posting the Memorial Wreath by county Judge Troy Tucker and Robert Davis; “Taps” by Wesley Whittington.

Jones’s speech will highlight Monday’s ceremony. A Distinguished Military Graduate of Henderson’s ROTC department and four-year Reddie football letterman, Jones served in the Vietnam War before returning to Arkadelphia in 1973 for work as a certified public accountant at a local firm and two financial institutions. He would return to his Alma Mater in 1989 as the university’s controller and was appointed vice president for finance and administration in 1999. 

Jones also served as HSU’s 16th president on an interim basis, and later as athletics director, also on an interim basis.

He retired from the U.S. Army Reserves in 1997.

The public is encouraged to attend.