Jerry Thomasson

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Jerry Kreth Thomasson (October 17, 1931 - April 29, 2007), was a Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives who led the move to establish university status to the former Henderson State Teacher's College at Arkadelphia. In 1966, Thomasson switched parties to seek the position of attorney general on the Republican ticket headed by reformer Winthrop Rockefeller. Thomasson was defeated in the general election, however, by the Democrat Joe Purcell of Benton, the seat of Saline County, even as Rockefeller was elected to the first of two two-year terms as governor.

In 1971, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon appointed Thomasson as an administrative law judge of the Social Security Administration, a position that he retained until his retirement in 2000.

Thomasson was born in Arkadelphia, the seat of staunchly Democratic Clark County in south central Arkansas, to Joseph Baron Thomasson and the former Gertrude Dean. Thomasson graduated from Arkadelphia High School in 1949. He attended Henderson Teachers College. He was a veteran of the Korean War. In 1959, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville.

As a representative from Clark County between December 31, 1962, and December 31, 1966, he introduced the bill to establish Henderson State University. This action encouraged other legislators to seek four-year status for other educational institutions in their districts. Thomasson maintained a lifelong interest in HSU and its athletic programs. And he was involved in Arkansas Razorbacks sports history.

Thomasson also introduced legislation to add the white safety lines to the outside edges of Arkansas highways. His colleagues during his four years in the legislature included Dr. Lu Hardin, the president of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway north of Little Rock, and future U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor, then of Camden in south Arkansas.

When Thomasson ran for attorney general, he expected to face the Democratic incumbent, the scandal-tainted Bruce Bennett of El Dorado in south Arkansas. Purcell, however, defeated Bennett in the primary, and the complexion of the race changed overnight. Like Thomasson, Purcell ran as a reformer. Purcell received 287,983 votes (53.9 percent) to Thomasson's 246,133 (46.1 percent). Thomasson carried twelve of the state's seventy-five counties, having received more than 60 percent of the ballots in Searcy, Baxter, Sebastian, Benton, and Washington counties. He also won in Crawford County, which Rockefeller lost. His strength was concentrated in the northwestern portion of the state.

In 1968, Thomasson again challenged Purcell. He received 240,725 votes (41.4 percent) to Purcell's 341,233 (58.6 percent). Thomasson won nine counties, again all in northwestern Arkansas, three fewer than he had in 1966.

From 1959-1960, Thomasson was the librarian of the Arkansas Supreme Court when James Douglas Johnson of Conway was an associate justice. They remained friends until Thomasson's death even though Johnson was the Democrat who lost to Rockefeller in the 1966 gubernatorial race. Thomasson's obituary said that he received a tie each Christmas from Johnson. Years later, "Justice Jim", as Johnson preferred to be called, switched to Republican affiliation.

Thomasson was in private law practice for eight years with Huie, Huie & Thomasson in Arkadelphia. He was a referee for the Arkansas Workmen’s Compensation Commission from 1960-1961. He was also a past chairman for the Legal Aid Committee of the Arkansas Bar Association.

Thomasson was particularly interested in research on the American Civil War and learned that he had a great-grandfather from Georgia who fought for the Confederate States of America. He was a direct ancestor of another family member who fought under George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Despite his past Republicanism, Thomasson was a friend and supporter of former President Bill Clinton and was mentioned in Clinton’s autobiography, My Life. He was pleased that he lived to see an Arkansan become president.

Thomasson was survived by his wife of forty-six years, the former Dortha Juanita Yates (born July 6, 1937). The couple wed in Bismarck in Hot Spring County on October 15, 1960. Thomasson had a daughter, Grace Ann (husband Jeff) Weber of Bryant; a son, Bryan (wife Shannon) Thomasson of Benton; a sister, Faydean (husband Orville) Roberts of Benton; one brother, Jack Thomasson of Arkadelphia, and four grandchildren.

Services were held on May 3, 2007, at the Ruggles-Wilcox Chapel in Arkadelphia. Burial was in DeRoche Cemetery in Bismarck.