ASU aid earmarked for county’s natives

A Prairie County man has started an endowed scholarship at Arkansas State University to help other county students study agriculture.

Bruce Devore transferred Wal-Mart stock to the ASU Foundation for the scholarship and has also created a living trust to give more money to the university when he dies, according to a news release. The university has awarded the first scholarship to Lucas Tenison of Hazen, it said.

Devore bought an 80-acre farm — with 54 acres devoted to row crops and 19 to timber — between Des Arc and Hazen from his father in 1998. The state Department of Agriculture recently designated the farm an Arkansas Century Farm. He had worked on the farm at an early age and took on more tasks as he grew older, the university said.

Devore served in the National Guard and in the Army Reserve and worked in the transportation business in Pulaski County, the university said.

“I didn’t get a college education,” Devore said in a news release. “But I think students coming from where I did should be able to if they want to.”

The endowed scholarship — named after himself and his father — is for Prairie County students who want to pursue an agriculture degree. Students from that county who have attended Arkansas State University-Beebe and transfer to the Jonesboro campus also will qualify.