HOW DO WE ELEVATE HOW WE WORK WITH PEOPLE?

To become a great leader, we will become a person who works very well with others.  How do we do this?

Please consider these perspectives:

“Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.”
Ben Stein contributed by Ed Nicholson

“Don’t try to be interesting, be interested,” the best advice, received from his #1 mentor, Jim Collins shares he ever received.  This is also how Betty Gray McFarland lived her life, a life that was rich and warm and full of love and one where so many people admired and loved her.

“How do we give more meaning to the contributions our people make for our organization?” Tim McFarland

“In every interaction with another human being, we leave something behind.”  Author unknown. Make your interactions great ones.

“As we become curious about people, every person has a unique story or part of their journey that is interesting and one from which we can all learn. Be interested in finding that story,” Bowtie Todd and Tim McFarland, shared by both before they had ever met one another.

“We are all people, of equal, with hopes and fears and dreams,” Tim McFarland added the “of equal” to this commonly used quote.

“In think leadership is the time we spend with our people,” Herb Kelleher, founding CEO of Southwest Airlines.

“Do you have your people in your heart?  If your people are just the way for you to get to something, you will never get there,” Donnie Smith

Because leadership is, among other things, bringing the best out in others.

THE AWESOME BETTY GRAY MCFARLAND, HER OBITUARY

Betty Gray McFarland, 85, of Harrison, AR passed away on September 10, 2016 in Springdale, AR.   Betty Gray Jackson was born on April 15, 1931 in Paragould, AR. to Ted and Vera Jackson and was the third of three children.

Betty Gray was preceded in death by her husband, Jerry McFarland in 2003, her parents and Ted Jackson, Jr.

Survivors include her brother, Bobby Jackson, of Panama City, Fl., her three children, Mike McFarland and wife Kim, Springdale, AR; Tim McFarland, Fayetteville, AR; Patty McFarland Methvin and husband Ransey, Harrison, AR; nephew, Ronnie McFarland and his wife Betty Lou, Searcy, AR; their son Bart McFarland, his wife Ejaye and their children, Searcy, AR; niece Lynne McPeak, her husband, Jeff and their children, Rockwall, TX., six grandchildren including Becca McFarland, Harrison, AR; Amy McFarland, Harrison, AR; Bryan Methvin and his wife Charlotte, Dallas, TX; Shawna Hobson, her husband Charlie Hobson and their children, Sheridan, AR; Aaron Methvin, St. Louis, MO; Cody Methvin and his wife Melanie, Harrison, AR.

Betty Gray spent most of her childhood days in Pine Bluff, AR, graduated from Pine Bluff High School and attended Blue Mountain College and Arkansas State Teachers College (University of Central Arkansas).  After marrying “Jerry Mac,” Betty Gray supported the family and engaged in the communities during his career advancements at Arkansas Power & Light Company where they lived in Pine Bluff, Lonoke, England, Batesville, Little Rock and Harrison, all Arkansas cities.

Betty Gray’s heart, grace and interest in others seemed to be never-ending.  She and her late husband, “Jerry Mac” were actively engaged in every community in which they lived, finding organizations and purposes where they could volunteer  to enhance thequality of life for that community.

Betty Gray served many years at the Boone County Library, working in a number of capacities, including board member and a founding leader who helped launch the Boone County Library Foundation.  She was a founding member of the Ozark Arts Council and an active member in the Woman’s Book Club of Harrison, where she also served as President.  She served as a board member of the North Arkansas Medical Foundation.  She served the First Presbyterian Church as an Elder, as President of the Presbyterian Women and was named “Woman of the Year” by the Presbyterian Women.    She served on several committees of the Arkansas Presbytery.  Her daughter Patty later became Youth Director at the First Christian Church and Betty Gray followed Patty to First Christian where she developed a new church family and, among others, served as a Deacon of the First Christian Church.   She was a long-time member of Chapter AG PEO.   Betty Gray was also an entrepreneur and brought TCBY Yogurt to the Harrison marketplace.  Among other things, TCBY was the place of employment for promising high school students many of whom have gone on to be quite successful.

Funeral services will be on Monday, September 12 at 3 p.m. at the First Christian Church in Harrison, AR.   Visitation will be on that same day at 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  at the Fellowship Hall of the First Christian Church.  The Funeral Service will be directed by Dr. David Artman.

Arrangements are by Holt Funeral Home of Harrison, AR.  Online condolences may be made at www.holtchapel.com.

Pallbearers will be Danny Roth, Tom Tice, Dan Sherrell, Jerry Pledger, Mike Richardson, Bill Seeger, Bob Dodson and Lynn Mayo.  Stewart Nance will deliver a Eulogy joining Dr. Artman in honoring Betty Gray’s life and the inspiration that her life represents.

Honorary Pallbearers include the Friday Night Group, Chapter AG PEO, the Hearthstone Sunday School Class, Jim McCammon, Jeff Christenson and Bill Magness.

The family would especially like to thank the many caregivers who served with skill, concern and compassion for Betty Gray including Dr. Blake Chitsey, the team at the Gardens at Arkanshire, the team at N.A.P.S. Nursing Agency and the team at Maple Esplanade.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Boone County Library and first Christian Church, both in Harrison, AR.

To be e-mailed to Holt Memorial Chapel at holtmemorial@hotmail.com  for distribution to the newspapers, etc.

For more information, contact Tim McFarland at tim@ceoforums.us. To be distributed via social media by the family and friends.  Family and friends, feel free to post or distribute this as you see fit.  We would be honored for you to do so.  

“MOMS”

We have been thinking a lot about Moms lately.  That person that carries our children to birth, a painful episode that man cannot fathom.  Moms are then called on to provide that unconditional love to a baby that determines, for the most part, the baby’s ability to love and enjoy other humans for the rest of their lives.  A Mom is asked to shepherd a child to independence, with some help of the father, one certainly hopes, a period that is the very longest as human beings compared to any and all other species on this earth.

Our Mom is the mother of three children.  She was kind enough to make us every meal, provide love and affection every day, take us to school and to hire people like Lucile, who helped around the house and would tie our big brother up with dish-washing rags when he, Mike, was too mean, so Patty and I could tickle him until our hearts content.

Our Mom drove me around the new elementary school when we moved to England until I could get the courage to go in and face these new students and this new environment.

Our Mom cooked the best chicken and dumplings on this earth.

When you were tired of sandwiches, our Mom knew just when to offer the grill cheese sandwich.

Our Mom boldly followed our father from Pine Bluff to Lonoke back to Pine Bluff, to England, to Batesville, to Little Rock and then to Harrison where I was still only entering the 8th grade.  By then, our Mom helped us understand we could move anywhere and adjust, as she did it so gracefully.

Our Mom baked chocolate sheet cake, by the time we all were in junior high and high school every Friday afternoon and left it out for us to cut a square and eat all weekend, every weekend.

Our Mom dedicated herself to the local library, not just a year or two, but for a decade or two.

Our Mom wasn’t trying to be interesting but rather redefined the term, interested.  She could tell you a person’s children, where they attended college, what town they lived in, what careers they were involved in and how many children they currently had.

Our father acted as the public address announcer for every junior high and senior high game for every major sport from 1971 to 2003 and our Mom attended almost every one of those events and supported him for that same 30 plus years.

Our father acted as master of ceremonies for almost every event in this little town of Harrison and for every event he did this, our Mom invested an hour or more helping him get prepared for the night’s event.

Our Mom was only talked back to once by the oldest child and when our father came home we all understood that this would only happen once.

Our Mom, as college aged canoeing enthusiasts gathered at 14 Westwood Drive on our way to Ponca for a two-day canoe trip packing and trying to hide the beer, would come out to offer us one more additional food item to take with us.  While bothered by her late gesture at the time, it would always be that last item that we were eating, starved as we got within a couple of hours of Pruitt, the end of the canoe trip.

Our Mom was first to visit our apartment in Fort Smith, our house in Albuquerque and our condo in Phoenix to see what else we could use to make it a fitting place to live.

Our Mom, as we helped her move out of her last home, presented each of us with a box of photos and newspaper articles and special items, many of which we had wished we had kept ourselves and now we had the copies of those activities that we thought we never would have.

Our Mom was amazing as just about every mother is.

When we think of amazing Mom’s, we think of Patty Methvin McFarland, Genie Moffett, Lynne McPeak, Betty Lou McFarland, and Ejaye McFarland and our other mother, the amazing Katherine Nance. Also, Melissa Thomas, Pier Flemming, Gindy Myers, Grace Gladden Nance, and Ann Rosso.  We think of Grace and Ann carrying on as the Mother of their children after the loss of their Father at a relatively young age.

We love you Betty Gray!