About 70 people attended a recognition dinner honoring the Brian Kirksey family Monday night. In addition to being named Clark County’s 2007 Farm Family of the Year, the Kirkseys won the 2008 Southeastern Farmer of the Year in Georgia. The event, hosted by County Judge Ron Daniell and the Clark County Quorum Court, was held in the Arts and Crafts building of the fairgrounds.

Several people spoke to honor the Kirksey family, and they received four resolutions on behalf of their success as a farming family.

Jerry Clemons, county extension agent, spoke first. He explained the process in which the family made its way to win the Southeastern Farmer of the Year. The county farm family selection began in 2007 when a committee set out to select the farm family. He said he knew the Kirkseys deserved the honor. “This process is sometimes quick, and sometimes it takes hours,” Clemons said. “This one was pretty quick.”

The family was then judged for the farm family of the district, followed by a December luncheon in Little Rock — where they won farm family of the state to represent Arkansas in October in the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo in Georgia for the Southeastern Farm Family of the Year award. From day one of learning they were farm family of Clark County, it took 18 months to make their way to the southeastern farm family.

Andy Guffey, coordinator for Farm Bureau of Arkansas, represented the Kirkseys from the time they were selected Clark County farm family until they were chosen as Southeastern farm family. He also spoke about the family.

“I have really grown attached to the Kirkseys,” he said. Guffey, who works with 75 farm family committees throughout the state, said he was on the road “quite a bit” last year, making several trips from Little Rock to the Kirkseys home in Alpine. He said he connected the family with judges, who toured the Kirksey farm before selecting them as farm family for the state. When the Kirkseys and the judges returned to their home from the farm, Guffey said there was “a carport full of people there to support them. I knew before we left who they were going to pick.”

Guffey said he had represented some of the state’s biggest farmers as well as some of the smallest farmers. “The smallest farmers are just as good.” In small-farming communities, families and communities “are the tightest. The Kirkseys are a fine family. They have sharp kids. I appreciate the communities for standing behind them and supporting them.”

Brian spoke next. “Clark County has been so good to us through this. I’ve been blessed with a great family.” He recognized his parents, Francille and Bill Kirksey, and his wife Nan’s parents, Bea and Nelson. Brian told the audience about how he began his career as a farmer. He said he started farming in 1985 after the Reynolds plant shut down. He started his greenhouse business working with his grandfather in the carport of his house with one greenhouse, and now has 25 greenhouses on the family’s 305-acre Spring Hill Farm. “It's been a labor of love.”

He gave a history of how his family became involved in farming. In the late 1860s in Clark County, after the state was torn apart from the Civil War, he explained that a woman by the name of  Mary Elizabeth Francis had fallen in love with a Confederate soldier, Elijah B. Kirksey. They married, and located in Piney. They started a family on a small farm and had two daughters. Things were “looking good” for the family, he said, when in 1873 a tragedy fell on the family when diphtheria claimed the lives of both daughters. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to the Finley community to “start over.” They began to prosper again with their farm, and had three sons who helped with the farming. Tragedy struck again when the Elijah B. died, leaving Mary Elizabeth to care for three sons. They became successful farmers, and one of them was known as Tom B. Kirksey, Brian’s great grandfather. “They were good farmers, good fathers,” he said. “My great-great grandmother instilled a great work ethic in those boys, and I’m proud to be a part of that family line.”

But being a farming family hasn’t always been easy for the Kirkseys. “There have been struggles — life is a struggle,” he said. “The reason we’ve made it is because of support.”
Nan spoke next, further recognizing their parents. “It has truly been a family affair,” she said. “We couldn’t have done it without our parents.” She then showed a slideshow presentation of the family, the farm and their trip to Georgia for the farm family expo.

Brian and Nan both recognized their children, Kathryn and John Brian. Brian said that one of the judges from the Sunbelt Expo who had been around the farm and commended the family for their farming operation was even more impressed with Kathryn and John Brian. “He told us that, by far, the best crop we had raised on our farm was our two children,” Brian said. “What better a compliment can a man say to another man’s family?”

After thanks, the Kirksey family received resolutions from Rep. Randy Stewart and Rep. Johnnie Roebuck; Judge Daniell; Quorum Court; and Bill Wright, on behalf of the Economic Development Corp. of Clark County.