Linda Chris Smith donates $50,000 to the Marion County Community Center Project

(04/27/2022)

"In loving memory of her husband, Christopher Frederick Smith, Linda Chris Smith, and Family have donated $50,000.00 to the Marion County Community Center Project. Ms. Linda presented the check to Marion County Judge John Massey to pass on to Marion County Community Services, Inc. She was inspired to donate to the community center project following a discussion with Judge Massey in which he indicated his full support for the local effort." (flippinonline.com)

Tom Dumas Donates $25,000 to the Marion County Community Center Project

(09/29/2021)

Tom Dumas Donates $25,000.00 to Marion County Community Center Project

Tom Dumas has donated $25,000.00 to help Marion County Community Services, a non-profit organization, complete purchase of 24 acres in south Yellville for the projected Marion County Community Center. He invites the community to match his donation.

Tom Dumas has spent his life making the most of every opportunity that presented itself to him. It all started 75 years ago in Philadelphia. Dumas likes to tell people that he moved to the South at the age of 4. That’s south New Jersey. His parents bought a home in a working class neighborhood post WW-2 that had once been a Colonial farm. A portion of the original farm remained intact and provided him with lots of hills and woods to explore. There were also summers spent in rural Pennsylvania with his mother’s family. He credits this outdoor childhood for his intense love of the land and nature.

Honesty and hard work were the dominate messages from his parents. He remembers being industrious and finding multiple ways to earn money. Mowing lawns, shoveling snow, paper routes and picking string beans allowed him to purchase school clothes and supplies. High school was a blur. He admits he wasn’t a good student even though testing put him in advanced classes. Fortunately one of his teachers convinced him to take the SATs. After high school, with poor grades and no college money, he went to work for Lennox HVAC Company. He learned the craft well and when he did make his way to college, they took him back each summer enabling him to earn college tuition and living expenses.

Tom says a Spirit Guide led him from New Jersey to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. A high school friend was attending Tech and encouraged Dumas to apply. He was accepted and a new chapter of his life opened up. This time he applied himself and made the Dean’s List. This led to pledging to the Cavaliers, a social and service group at Tech, and a prophetic encounter with a Navy Flight recruiter. Years later, his reunion with his Cavalier brothers would be the reason he acquired land in Yellville.

Tom says his father and all his uncles served in WW-2 so he never thought about not serving in the military. The Navy Flight recruiter standing in the Tech Student Union that day offered an airplane ride. It was an irresistible invitation. The next day they flew out of Russellville airport rolling, looping, and chasing clouds over Mt Nebo. He was firmly hooked. Dumas was accepted into the Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate program and was commissioned Ensign at his Tech graduation. He headed to Pensacola for flight school. 1969 Vietnam War policy included a build- up of pilots but a shortage of instructors sent Tom to teach basic instruments in the link trainer of the T-28 Trojan. This allowed him to be fully qualified in basic instruments before he knew how to fly. With this advantage, he went through primary flight school at the top of his class and was selected for the jet pipeline. Ultimately he completed advanced jet training in the F-9. He completed A-7 Corsair II training in Jacksonville, Florida and volunteered to join the fleet at Pearl Harbor flying A-7s. Late in the Vietnam War he entered a reserve unit. He then turned his attention to education. Working on a MBA at the University of Florida, he also worked for an apartment developer.

While at the University of Florida, if friends and associates needed to go someplace by plane, Tom would fly them, providing they paid for the plane! During such an event at the Gainesville Airport, Dumas engaged two men in business suits in conversation. The two men were David and Martin Stein, the early founders of Burger King. This resulted in his first job out of grad school as a real estate executive and corporate pilot. During these years he traveled extensively and met his wife.

After four years, Tom was recruited to Chicago as Assistant to the Chairman of the Balcor Company. Dumas held the positions of V.P. Acquisitions and F.V.P. Marketing. His daughter was born there but the family did not like the cold and eventually returned to Jacksonville, Florida. Cardinal Industries was headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, but had a plant and office in Sanford. Tom’s Chicago experience gave him the expertise to help lift Cardinal from 132nd largest builder to 6th in his four years with the company. In the meantime, Tom’s own real estate company was taking hold and he left Cardinal to take charge of his own future.

He is particularly proud of his then service marked Mission Statement: “Serve the real needs of the community by seeking first, the public purpose”. As such, he was involved in many parks, schools, post offices, and other public use properties. One of his major achievements, the Dutton Island Intracoastal Waterway Park, was a keystone project. He and the former mayor of Atlantic Beach were awarded the NE Florida Planning & Zoning’s “Environmental Project of the Year”. His work with the Florida Department of Transportation resulted in a new highway interchange.

Dumas, now the proud grandfather of two girls, says being a Granpappy is like fatherly love on steroids. He also enjoys travel, biking, sailing, and has studied fitness, health, and nutrition extensively. Most of all, he wants to promote a positive outlook and view of the world. One of his favorite quotes is: “When you change the way you look at things; the things you look at change”. He’s met a lot of friendly people in Marion County which ultimately led to his final decision to buy property here. He wants to be a positive influence, as he has been all his life. He tells us in another favorite quote, “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good; Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood”.

Please join the effort to match Tom’s generosity with a donation of your own! Since 2007, Marion County Community Services (MCCS) has been working toward building a multipurpose community building for Marion County. The proposed building will offer a recreational/competition swimming pool, meeting/classrooms, auditorium, basketball/volleyball/multipurpose room, indoor walking track, gift shop, and youth center.
Matching Mr. Dumas’ wonderful donation will complete the land purchase and make MCCS eligible for building and program grants, a critical next step in building the Marion County Community Center.

Because Marion County Community Services, Inc. is an all-volunteer, non-profit charitable corporation, 100% of your donation goes to completing purchase of the 24 acres in south Yellville. Please contact Lynn Wallace, Shasta Doshier, or Travis Doshier at the Doshier Tax Office, 870-449-5555, for information about donating to this wonderful project or go on-line to www.marioncountycommunityservices.org. or http://marioncountycommunityservices.org/donate.html. Donations may also be mailed to Marion County Community Services or The Marion County Community Center Project, PO Box 948, Yellville, Arkansas 72687. Checks can be made to same. You will receive a letter recognizing your generosity! Together we move forward! 





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