- Date Of Birth: December 21, 1926
- Date Of Death: August 22, 2012
- State: Arkansas
Frances Hardin Byrd
December 21, 1926 – August 22, 2012
Frances Hardin Byrd was born on Dec. 21, 1926 near Conway, Arkansas to Marley Alfred and Susan Muriel Hardin. She moved to Redfield when she was six years old. The youngest of seven children, she grew up at the end of River Road on her father’s farm. After graduation from Redfield Senior High School, where she was an avid basketball player and champion free throw shooter, she went to Conway to Teacher’s College (now UCA). There she met her husband, Conley F. Byrd Sr. However, it was not until both transferred to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, that they began to date and were subsequently married. She graduated with a B.S.E. degree. She taught in the Sidney Schools until they moved temporarily out of state to Ohio. Conley and “Shorty Frances”were soon home sick for Arkansas and they moved back, never to move away again. She worked for a short time as a chemist at the Pine Bluff Arsenal while Conley Sr. practiced law in Pine Bluff, AR. From there, they moved to North Little Rock where Conley Sr. began working as the Court Reporter for the Arkansas State Supreme Court. When they discovered that he had tuberculosis, he had to leave his wife and two small children to go to the Booneville TB Sanitarium. The judges on the Court allowed Frances, with some assistance, to hold down Conley’s job until he could return to work. With God’s providence, Conley Sr. survived lung surgery, was one of the first patients to receive the new wonder drug, streptomycin, and was one of the first outpatients ever for TB. Frances had to give him the drugs at home for several years.During the next few years, Frances taught at Badgett Elementary School in Little Rock, Sherwood Schools, and Cloverdale Elementary in Little Rock. She also ran Conley Sr.’s successful campaign for Position 4 on the Arkansas Supreme Court.After his election, they bought a farm with her sister Willie Mae Murdock in Redfield. There, she had an organic garden and raised calves, pigs, chickens and ducks. After she retired from farming, she became the editor of the monthly Redfield Update newspaper for 10 years.
