Ouachita Stories

As Ouachita Baptist University celebrates its 125th anniversary, Ouachitonians around the globe can enjoy Ouachita Voices: Celebrating 125 Years of Academic & Christian Excellence, a new commemorative history book highlighting the many memories, traditions and other qualities that make Ouachita what it is today.



“In honor of Ouachita’s 125th anniversary, we wanted to publish a commemorative book that offers a fresh perspective of Ouachita’s rich legacy and bright future,” said Ouachita Voices Editor Trennis Henderson, OBU vice president for communications. “The book is designed to be an approachable, engaging account of Ouachita’s history with lots of photographs and personal anecdotes.”

The new anniversary book’s “primary focus is a series of first-person essays telling the Ouachita story from individual perspectives,” Henderson said. “As readers explore the content, design and quality of Ouachita Voices, it hopefully will become a treasured addition to their home, office or dorm room.”

The 132-page coffee table book debuted during Ouachita’s recent 125^th anniversary Founders Day Convocation, with President Rex Horne presenting the first copies of the book to descendants of Dr. John W. Conger, Ouachita’s founding president.

The book features more than 20 first-person essays by various faculty members, trustees and students, both past and present, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Terry Jones, one of the founding members of the Christian singing group Point of Grace; and Cliff Harris, a member of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Ouachita Voices includes six chapters: Historical Voices, Presidential Voices, Alumni Voices, Faculty Voices, Trustee Voices and Voices of the Future, as well as more than 175 historical and contemporary campus photographs.

Jacob Lively, president of Ouachita’s Student Senate and one of the Voices of the Future, was invited to submit an essay detailing his Ouachita experiences.

“I was asked to give an overview of what Ouachita meant to me along with just giving people an overview of what campus was like today,” Lively said. “One of the defining moments of my life was choosing to come to Ouachita. My essay takes a look at how Ouachita has impacted my life and provides a snapshot of what type of students Ouachita is trying to create.”

In a recent lecture he gave to business students on campus, Ouachita Trustee Frank Hickingbotham, a former Ouachita student and namesake of the Hickingbotham School of Business, affirmed the book, emphasizing it is a great pastime to reflect on the traditions and history of the university.

“This will come to be one of the great historical documents in the archives. It is beautifully written, well presented and I know you will come to love it,” Hickingbotham said. “This is a marvelous book.”

Working alongside Henderson for the past several months to produce the book was Brooke Zimny, OBU assistant director of communications and assistant editor of Ouachita Voices.

“Mr. Henderson has completed a tremendous task in presenting this unique history,” Zimny said. “We each have our own Ouachita stories and I think it is very fitting at this important time in our history for us to look back through Ouachitonians’ own eyes at the university we all love.”

Thanks to a generous donation from Hickingbotham to help underwrite production costs, Ouachita Voices can be purchased for only $29.95 plus tax in the campus bookstore or online at www.obu.edu/125/OuachitaVoices. For more information, contact the OBU Office of Communications at 870-245-5206.

Katie Steele, a senior mass communications and speech communication major, is a writer for The Signal, Ouachita Baptist University’s campus newspaper