‘Feel the love’
Morrilton Citizen of the Year wants to ‘lift up others’
When the Rev. Carlene Canady lives in a community — whether it’s for a few years or decades — she makes an impression. The newest Morrilton Citizen of the Year has lived in the city just eight years, moving from her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.
Canady, 75, said that when Mayor Allen Lipsmeyer’s wife, Stephanie, called to give her the news, she was surprised and thought she needed to earn the title.
“I said, ‘What does that entail? What do I have to do?’ I was very excited that someone thought enough of me to nominate me. It made me feel valued that someone would consider me as the Citizen of the Year.”
The mayor said Canady has a “servant’s heart” and puts service above self. “She is the most kind, Christian example. She is always praying for people in our community,” Lipsmeyer said. “I know firsthand how she has lifted my family up. She sends cards and calls on people. [She’s] a citizen every town wants, but they can’t have this one.”
Canady, who was honored Nov. 1 at the 94th annual Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce banquet, grew up in Stuttgart with a sister and two brothers.
“It was just wonderful; you had no worries or anything,” she said. “We just grew up with a lot of love.”
She and her siblings spent a lot of time on her grandparents’ farm in the small Arkansas County community of Ethel. Her parents farmed with her grandfather in Ethel, and her mother cleaned houses.
Canady met her now husband, Hattieville native Curtiss R. Canady, in 1968 at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where she earned a degree in elementary education.
“When I was growing up, I always loved to teach,” Canady said. “I always loved books. My mother said I would always get a book, and I would always try to teach my siblings.
“I loved Sunday school. Anything that had to do with reading and teaching, that was me. I loved to go to church and say Mother’s Day speeches and Easter speeches. I think I was the one who was always very talkative.”
Canady has a doctorate in pastoral theology from Faith Bible College in Independence,
Missouri, and served as the chaplain for the Grandview Police Department in Missouri. She also has a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg and an Educational Specialist degree in administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Canady said that as an elementary teacher, she preferred to teach kindergarten.
“Kindergartners were so impressionable, and they just had so much love to offer, and they were like little sponges,” she said. “I wanted to pour more knowledge into them. I taught them more than the curriculum required.”
The Canadys, who have been married for 53 years, made a life in Kansas City. They spent 48 years in the city and raised a son and daughter, who still live there. The couple also have nine grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Canady left teaching for administration and became an assistant principal and a principal. She retired in 2000 from the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Schools, but “retired” is a relative term for her.
“I’m one that I just don’t believe in sitting down and not doing anything,” she said. “I love being involved and helping others. I am a people person.”
She was executive associate assistant to the pastor at her church in Grandview, Missouri. After she retired from public school, the pastor of her church asked her to become the director over the church’s combination preschool/elementary school/ day care.
She said her husband, who was a pipe fitter, always wanted to come back to Conway County, so they moved to Morrilton in August 2013 after they both retired.
Canady said Morrilton was a culture shock, and she was homesick at first.
“It was too quiet for me. … I cried for three weeks almost every day, wanting to go back to Kansas City,” she said. “[Curtiss] would take me out and drive me around the community. After about three weeks, I began to enjoy the peace, the quietness and that the city was not as violent. The city did not have as much traffic. Now I just love Morrilton. I call it my little resort villa. I love living here in Morrilton; it is so peaceful.”
The residents made all the difference, too.
“I went to intermingling with the people. The people here in Morrilton are very friendly — friendly and accepting. I started volunteering; I wanted to know who was running the community. I started getting involved, and the rest is history,” she said.
Canady’s list of community and church activities is long. When she came to Morrilton, finding a church was important to her.
“I visited churches for a whole year, and I finally found the church that is perfect for me,” she said of Greater Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Canady is assistant to pastor Ronald G. Chargois. She’s also director for the outreach ministry, Sunday school teacher of the Adult 4 class and planning-committee leader for Women of Faith, which has a monthly online Bible study and prepares baskets of items for those in need.
“We visit the sick and shut-in in hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, and for Christmas, we always do blankets or socks for the nursing home,” she said.
Canady said she counsels young women, as well as children.
“It can be personal; it can be spiritual, educational, financial,” she said.
Although her church involvement keeps her busy, she finds time to volunteer in the community, too. She was president of the Morrilton Human Relations Council (the board for the T.C. Vaughan Senior Center) for six years and is a member of the Conway County Community Foundation Board, having rolled off as president in October.
She lends her skills in the kitchen at the senior center — “I’m not the best cooker, but I can cook,” she said, laughing — and she delivers Meals on Wheels.
She also volunteered at the Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce for four years.
“I did that until COVID hit, and they closed the building down,” she said.
Chamber President Jerry Smith said Canady is a perfect choice for Citizen of the Year.
“I couldn’t be happier for Rev. Carlene and the chamber,” Smith said. “She’s one that’s always a citizen of the year — it’s just the way she lives her life. I was hospitalized over a year ago, and I still get a handwritten card in the mail from her every week or two. What a blessing she has been to me and so many, many others in Morrilton.”
Canady said she hopes to create change with her positive outlook and actions.
“My philosophy is to encourage others so that they will be better in society, in order to make a difference,” she said. “I love encouraging people … and I just believe that all people should learn to get along with each other and have unity, harmony and peace with one another.”
She said her best memory so far in Morrilton is from October 2019, when her pastor declared it Dr. Carlene Canady Appreciation Day. He invited her former church members in Grandview to come visit.
“And they came in an 88-passenger bus and 21 cars — we counted them. That was the biggest day for me in Morrilton,” she said. “We had a wonderful day all day that Sunday. That was an exciting day in my life.”
She isn’t slowing down at three-quarters of a century.
“My goal is to continue to volunteer, minister to the sick, provide encouragement by sending out cards and Prayergrams, and just calling people to encourage them,” she said. “I just try to keep an uplifting attitude so I can lift others up. I believe in genuinely making people feel like they are loved. When they come in contact with me, I want them to feel the love.”
Canady will only hold the Citizen of the Year title for 12 months, but to her, it is the lasting impact she makes that means the most.
I’m one that I just don’t believe in sitting down and not doing anything. I love being involved and helping others. I am a people person”.
The Rev. Carlene Canady
MORRILTON CITIZEN OF THE YEAR