Ozark Profile : Monk will continue serving older generations
Posted on Monday, June 30, 2008
Tommy Monk is retiring today from the U. S. government after a total of 26 years of service, the last three as director of the Fayetteville National Cemetery.
On Tuesday, the selfdescribed workaholic said, he plans to continue trying to preserve the honor and dignity of those who have come before him, only in a different way.
Tuesday is the day he begins working as executive director of a nursing home in Eureka Springs.
He said it feels like his three years at the Fayetteville National Cemetery have been a day.
"It's been wonderful," he said. "There's not been one single problem. I'm going to miss it."
He said the new job will allow him to fulfill a goal to return to the nursing home field.
"It happened quicker than I thought it would," he said.
Several years ago, he served as director of a nursing home in Hot Springs.
"This is kind of my passion, so why not do it ? "he said.
There will be 59 patients and 57 employees to oversee.
Monk said the job also will allow more flexibility to travel and spend time with his seven grandchildren. He and his wife, Betsy, live in Farmington and have four grown daughters.
Even as he describes his new challenge, however, he has a tinge of regret about leaving.
Still, he said, the cemetery is one of the finest in the nation - not because of him, but because of the crew.
"They know their job, and they do it extremely well," he said. "They're dedicated."
He has overseen six employees, one work-study student and four veteran volunteers (two from the Regional National Cemetery Improvement Corp., a local group that buys and then donates land for the cemetery, and two from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center ).
Monk's easy-going manner is catching as he relaxes in his office, where boxes abound, and prepares for the change.
Despite the easy-going trait, Monk is also full of enthusiasm as he talks about his future and a lifetime of work that has included working for the state to help young people, teaching at elementary schools and high schools throughout the state (including Fayetteville ) and in Oklahoma City, working with the developmentally disabled and elderly, and helping youth obtain job training.
Monk is also enthusiastic about history.
He was born in Pine Bluff and raised in White Hall, a town his great-grandfather, a Methodist missionary, helped found.
Monk attended Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, a two-year school then, on tennis and baseball scholarships. During that time, he served a short stint of active duty in the U. S. Army and in the Arkansas Army National Guard. He worked at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in White Hall for a time. His other federal job experience includes stints with the Department of the Interior and Department of Education.
He earned his Bachelor of Science in history and political science from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where he also obtained a master's degree in education instruction. He later earned his master's degree in history from Midwestern University in Kansas City, Mo.
He started his doctorate in history at the University of Arkansas in the early 1990 s. One of his goals is to complete it.
"I promised my mother I would, and I'm going to," he said.
To serve as a national cemetery director, Monk was accepted a few years ago into the internship program for national cemetery directors and was selected among numerous applicants nationwide to attend the National Cemetery Administration Training Center in St. Louis.
His first assignment was as interim director at the Biloxi National Cemetery in Mississippi. He then graduated from the program in Washington, D. C., and served as director of the national cemetery in Mitchell, Ala., before transferring to the Fayetteville National Cemetery three years ago.
He said he has enjoyed the work.
"What I like about it is the people that you meet," he said.
Even more rewarding, he said, is knowing that veterans are getting their benefit - to be buried in a national cemetery - knowing that the benefit is done with honor and dignity.
Likewise, he said, a nursing home should be a place where people can live life to the fullest, just as they would at their home when they are younger, and be treated well.
"These are generations of people that have made my life and your life a whole lot easier," he said.
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