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Meet Our Donors - Ruby B. Faught
The Brown Society of Lyon College has rolled out the red carpet for three individuals whose generosity with their green will help keep the school’s accounts in the black for future generations.
Mrs. Ruby B. Faught of Jonesboro, and Dr. and Mrs. H. Gary M. Jones of Hot Springs, are the Society’s newest members. At this year’s annual Brown Society luncheon, held, April 6 at the Little Rock Country Club, all Society members received certificates and the newest members were recognized for their support.
Gary and Joan Jones and Ruby Faught are all members of Club 50, an organization of alumni that graduated 50 years or more ago from Lyon College. Ruby is also a member of the Board of Church Advocates, and the Joneses are members of the President's Council.
Ruby said her bequest will fund the Barr Family Memorial Endowed Scholarship, created in honor of her parents, John T. and Gretta C. Barr. John was a Presbyterian minister at the Norman, Ark., Presbyterian Church for 51 years. Following his death, church officials renamed the church the Barr Memorial Presbyterian Church. Ruby, her father and her brother all graduated from Lyon (Arkansas) College, and several of her cousins and an uncle attended the College as well.
“Without the scholarships we all got there, we wouldn’t have been able to go,” she said. “From the time I could talk, I told everyone that I was going to Lyon College and become a school teacher.”
That’s just what she did, teaching public school in Jonesboro for 34 years. Now she wants to help someone else have the same opportunities to attend college that she had.
 Gary and Joan Jones said their bequest will fund the Joan Creason Jones Music Scholarship. Gary graduated from Lyon College in 1950 and Joan – who pronounces her name “Joanne” – followed suit in 1952. Both graduated Summa Cum Laude. While a student here, she was one of the first “Girlie” singers.
Dr. and Mrs. H. Gary M. Jones
The four-woman group later evolved into another group known as the “Lassies.” During the summer months, the group toured with the USO, performing for troops all over the world.
“I’ve been involved with music everywhere we’ve been,” she said. “Before I went to Lyon College, I had been playing piano for over 10 years already and singing for six years.”
Gary said he owes everything he has to the College. Born and raised in Wales, he came to this country in 1947 and was working as a cashier in a Western Auto store in Branson, Mo., when he met past College president John Crockett. On vacation in the little Ozark Mountain town, Crockett was a Bible studies professor at the College and he invited Gary to Batesville, where he quickly enrolled in Lyon College.
He went on to become a respected and successful Presbyterian minister. In 1975, the College awarded him an honorary doctorate degree, and in 2000 named him a Distinguished Alumnus.
Joan continued her musical career as a singer, officer and one of the co-founders in the Nashville Pro Musica Group, an organization involved with performing classical music in churches and other venues across the region.
When they attended Lyon College, tuition was about $450 per semester, and he offset those costs with a variety of scholarships, Gary said. With those same tuition fees now in the thousands, he wanted to give something back to help future students get the same blessings from the College that he received.
“I’ve always had a deep, abiding love for Lyon College, and I feel indebted for the things the College gave me,” he said. “Going to school there was an ideal way for an immigrant like me to learn what this great country is all about.”
But Gary’s ultimate goal in creating the scholarship fund was to show his admiration to the woman whose gift of love and music has made his life so much more than it would have been without her.
“I needed to find a special way to show her how much I appreciate her putting up with me for the past 54 years,” he said.
The Brown Society, named in memory of W. C. Brown and his sister, Jean Brown, both of Hot Springs, exists to recognize and honor those individuals who have remembered Lyon College in their estate planning.
Membership is open to all individuals who provide a charitable gift to Lyon College through gift plans such as will bequests, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder unitrusts, charitable remainder annuity trusts and/or life insurance policies. Other types of deferred or estate gifts may also qualify an individual for membership.
To learn more about one or more of these gift plans, contact Tim Bruner, Lyon College vice president of Institutional Advancement, at (870) 698-4211, or by e-mail at: tbruner@lyon.edu.
For information about becoming a member of the Brown Society, contact Claudia Marsh, Lyon’s director of church relations and planned giving, at (870) 793-1767, or by e-mail at: cmarsh@lyon.edu.
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