Graduates’ Educational Legacy Extends to Next Generation of Students

Herman and Frances Hankins at their 50th wedding anniversary in 1985

J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences alumnus Stuart Hankins was taught the value of education and hard work since the day of his birth, and each day he gives thanks for the impact those principles have had on his success.

But Hankins said his resolve did not start with him, it goes back several decades to when his own father, Herman Harrison Hankins, was hoping to attend the University of Arkansas.

In 1930, amidst the height of the Great Depression, Herman received $50 dollars to help pay for his education – tuition was around $65 at the time.

“My father was one of nine children on a family dairy and cotton farm in Jefferson County, Arkansas. He was born in 1912 as the sixth child,” Hankins said. “He was the first one to express a desire to go to college. My grandfather had very meager means, but agreed to sell two milk cows, which he did, for $50. Every penny went to my father.”

Those funds and his own determination were all Herman brought to the University of Arkansas. His task, along with schoolwork, was to earn the remaining $15.

Going to classes and working multiple jobs to support himself throughout college, Herman did not have an easy college experience. But no matter how strained Herman’s journey may have been, he always maintained that it was the experience of a lifetime.

“He worked multiple jobs throughout college and lived in a barn loft and a basement,” Hankins said. “Did all kinds of stuff, and yet he thought those four years he went to U of A were the best four years of his life. He worked hard, enjoyed it and was very proud of achieving his degree in 1934. He was the first in the family to get a college degree.”

The U of A also happens to be the place Herman met his wife, Frances Greer.

“My mother’s situation was equally as economically difficult. She got her degree a year after he got his. They just always stressed to us how important education was,” Hankins said.

While Herman’s strenuous college career was anything but easy, this experience marked a poignant moment in his life. He would go on to marry Greer in 1935, have four children and become the state director of the Farmers Home Administration (which has since become the Farm Service Agency) in the United States Department of Agriculture.

Herman believed in his education, fought for it and always said he was rewarded greatly – and so was the next generation.

The Hankins’ children and their spouses and children collectively hold 11 degrees from the University of Arkansas, but Herman’s legacy and work did not stop at his own family. Fifty years after his marriage to Greer, a scholarship was established in their name.

“It meant a great deal to my brother and two sisters,” Hankins said. “It meant a great deal of respect for the sacrifices my parents made to get their degrees and the sacrifices they made to send all four of us to college. We obviously had it infinitely easier than they did. For their 50th anniversary in 1985, we were discussing what to get them for an anniversary present and someone came up with an idea for a scholarship fund in their name. Everybody thought it was a tremendous idea. They absolutely loved the gift.

Thanks to Stuart W. Hankins, C. Harrison Hankins, Gayle Hankins Anderson, Wally Anderson and Joada, Hankins Huff, The Frances Greer and Herman Harrison Hankins Scholarship is awarded to students who are native Arkansans and graduates of an Arkansas high school.

Stuart Hankins

“Both of my parents were in extremely difficult economic circumstances during the depression, and they managed to get their degrees,” Hankins said. “They were extremely proud, and they always wanted an opportunity to help other students who needed assistance.”

To this day, Hankins carries the story of his parents’ perseverance in everything he does.

Currently a lawyer in Arkansas, Hankins said he is a firm believer in the idea that hard work and education are key to success.

“My father’s story is a testament to how a single man with a hunger for knowledge, and two milk cows, can create a legacy that will continue to touch students for years to come,” Hankins said. 

Story by Meaghan Blanchard, an alumna who majored in English, minored in Italian and served as a Fulbright College communications intern during summer 2015.