Eugene B. and Cora C. Smith Memorial Scholarship

The scholarship you are receiving was established as a tribute to the late Eugene B. Smith, for many years a Jonesboro banker and former managing editor of the Jonesboro Sun. Mr. Smith was the founder of the Jonesboro Jaycees/Jonesboro Sun annual Goodfellows campaign to aid needy families during the Christmas season. Additionally, Mr. Smith was named a member of the Hall of Honor of the Jonesboro Jaycees. His wife, Mrs. Cora Belle Cook Smith, was a civic and community leader in her own right. According to Larry Fugate of the Jonesboro Sun, in 1954 Mrs. Smith chaired the field trials in Jonesboro for the polio vaccine. “That was the year the first Salk vaccine inoculations were given to area school children,” Fugate wrote in an editorial. “Legions of the community-minded citizens like Cora Smith worked many long hours to protect the young of our nation by making sure the vaccine was available to everyone.” Mrs. Smith was also a charter member of what became the United Way of Greater Jonesboro and was the first woman to serve on its board of directors. Upon Mrs. Smith’s death in 2001, the name was changed to honor both of the Smiths.