Faulkner's Most Influential
The List
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Asa Robinson
George Donaghey
Frank E. Robins
W.W. Martin
Bob Habholz
Guy Murphy
Jo Frauenthal
Thomas Wilson
John Hugh Reynolds
Theodore S. Smith
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Other Candidates
About the Voting

photo: act
Thomas Wilson
Wilson remembered as banker to business sucess
By FRED PETRUCELLI
Log Cabin Staff Writer
Friday, June 25, 1999

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Fred Petrucelli
The man who loaned money to merchandising tycoon Sam Walton is being hailed as one of the most influential people in Faulkner County's history.

Thomas Wilson, banker, money-man extraordinaire, who carved out a long career as a banking titan, a man who exerted energy to develop his bank as one of the most viable in the region, also is the man who took pride in his city, lending his expertise to its evolution.

The story of Sam Walton flying into Conway to borrow money to fortify his growing enterprise (you always came to Wilson's office at First State Bank and never vice versa) is told with the deepest respect for a man astute enough to deal with one of the business giants of the age.

"He loaned Walton all the money he could," says this source, his voice laced with awe. "They were high-risk loans but the bank made lots of money making them."

Wilson, who ranked No. 8 in the Log Cabin Democrat survey, was a banker's banker. That translates to hard work, to perspicacity, to finesse, to understanding what it means to make money. He loaned money often at surprising interest rates but he was not fazed by the risks involved.

No one element of the banking business escaped his mercurial mind. He owned the expertise of a computer in the days when the machine was unheard of.

While banking was his forte -- "he was one of the smartest bankers I've ever known," says B. J. Daugherty who worked for Wilson for years -- his drive to built the city of Conway was all consuming.

When she was told of Wilson's nomination to the most influential list, Wilson's widow, Pollyanna, said: "I'm delighted. Tom loved Conway better than any other place. He loved working with the chamber of commerce and the other boards. I'd say he gave his life to Conway."

Mrs. Wilson who is 83, makes her home at Parkway Village Retirement Center in Little Rock. She notes that when she visits in Conway, she is constantly asked about her husband.

"Nobody knows me; but everybody knows Tom."

Daugherty said, "He used his skills in the field of human relations and his wide contacts around the country to bring industry to the city."

Certainly, Wilson was aware added industrial payrolls meant business for the bank and more money for its stock holders.

Yet, even that was not his principal motivation, say contemporaries. He was passionate in his love of the place, in touch with all facets of life and government in the city.

He was a major player in the development of the Conway Industrial Park. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of the chamber of commerce's Guy Murphy and automobile dealer Theodore Smith and businessman Earl Rogers and others, and with them raised some $40,000 to launch the concept of the area designed to attract industry.

Today's viable industrial park will always carry Wilson's mark, which continues in various ways in contemporary times.

For years, Wilson's annual report on the "state of Conway" was a feature of the Conway Rotary Club. And, invariably, his reports told of the wonders of the growth and advancement of the people and institutions in the city. He was optimistic almost to a fault, but his forecasts of the city and area's progress were uncanny and often proved to be prophetic.

One of the Wilson watchers was Louis Stell, president of Regions Bank in Conway, who credits his old friend and boss with giving him the opportunity to remain in Conway and create his own history of banking excellence.

"I worked for him for 21 years, moving slowly from bookkeep up the ladder to the position of vice president and member of the board when he sold the bank," Stell says. "People didn't advance fast under Wilson, but he gave them the opportunity to move ahead as they were able."

Using a meaningful metaphor, Stell said of his mentor, "He didn't give you the fish; he gave you the hook," adding that years later he recognized the verity of that remark. "I realized he was giving me the benefit of his knowledge."

Wilson was a graduate of Conway High School, Hendrix College and the American Institute of Banking. He taught at the institute later. He received a law degree in 1932 from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Wilson's banking career was launched in 1922. For 11 years he was an assistant cashier at the Bank of Conway. He later became special deputy bank commissioner for the state of Arkansas, and served as an administrative assistant in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Former Circuit Judge Francis Donovan recalls his first meeting with Wilson, a man he was to know intimately when he opened a law office in Conway.

"One summer while attending the University of Arkansas, I applied for a job at the ordnance works in Pine Bluff, where my family lived at the time," the former judge remembers. "I was ushered into an office to talk with the civilian director of the organization. The man in charge was Tom Wilson."

The banker served on many banking and community boards over the years, including the state Bank Division of the American Bankers Association, the Hendrix College Board of Trustees, Conway Development Corp. and Conway Corp.

Wilson, along with W.D. Ketcheside, founded First State Bank in 1946. He became president in 1957 and chairman of the board in 1971, holding these positions until 1982. Wilson continued to serve as chairman of the bank's executive committee until he died June 22, 1985.

As his banking career was winding to a close, Wilson said, "If I was getting through college this month, I'd go into the banking business, probably in the Arkansas River Valley, and more likely right here in Conway."