The nametags said it all. “Thanks, Gene!” was the message at a special
announcement Thursday, June 14, held in the atrium of the former Regions
Plaza, now the North Arkansas College Center Campus.A $500,000 pledge to the North Arkansas College Foundation by Harrison business leader L.E. “Gene” Durand will assist Northark in the coming years as it renovates the current Regions Bank into a conference center to serve Harrison and the college’s six-county service area. In recognition of the gift, North Arkansas College Trustees voted Thursday to name the facility the L.E. “Gene” Durand Conference Center.
“Gene was one of the first supporters from the community I met when I moved to Harrison, and I feel a real affinity for him,” said North Arkansas College President Dr. Jeff Olson. “What he has done is a wonderful example of the kind of support that makes a significant difference to our college and the community.”
Included in Thursday’s announcement was a pledge from Community First Bank President Dave Morton of Harrison to provide $50,000 to fund the first breakout room in the Durand Conference Center. Northark trustees approved naming the room the Community First Bank Partners Room. It will memorialize deceased CFB bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William King Gladden, board member Richard Hudson, and senior vice president Gene Brasel.
The North Arkansas College Foundation will also establish a Gene and Betty Durand Endowed Chair from some of the Durand gift proceeds. The chair will honor Durand and his late wife, Betty.
Now a member of the Community First Bank Board of Directors, Durand once served as president and board chairman of Security Bank, the original bank to occupy the space that will bear his name.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for North Arkansas College to recognize Mr. Durand as a pioneer and leader in the North Arkansas banking and finance community,” said Dan Bowers, a member of the North Arkansas College Foundation Board and Durand’s friend and attorney. Bowers introduced Durand at Thursday’s announcement. “It is of even greater significance since it was in this facility, formerly the Security Bank, where Gene devoted himself to not only the banking needs, but also the civic good of our community.”
North Arkansas College purchased the Regions Plaza property earlier this month for $1.2 million. Included in the 65,000-square-foot facility located on one square block near downtown Harrison is the Regions Bank building, a five-story office tower, and a parking lot. The college also purchased a second parking lot across the street as part of its deal with Regions Bank. Northark already has North and South campuses in Harrison.
North Arkansas College will wait up to one year for Regions Bank to relocate from the 22,000-square-foot building that will be renovated into the Durand Conference Center. However, some college offices and programs will start moving to the office tower this summer.
A pacesetter in the Harrison business community for 59 years, Durand was the first person to establish a charitable remainder trust to benefit North Arkansas College through the North Arkansas College Foundation, Inc.
Durand and his late wife, Betty, moved to Boone County in 1946. He came to Harrison to set up a new plant for Oberman & Co. (eventually, Levi Strauss) to make shorts for the U.S. Navy.
Durand was born in Collinsville, Okla., and grew up in Clovis, New Mexico. Gene has two children: Dr. Douglas Durand of Osprey, Fla., and Deborah Freund of Gulf Shores, Ala. He also has three grandchildren: Jason Jordan and Jennifer Jordan, who both live in the Gulf Shores area, and Chris Durand of Austin, Tex.
Durand was one of the founders of Community First Bank in Harrison and has served on that bank’s board of directors since it was established in 1997.
A member of the Board of Directors of Security Bank in Harrison for 39 years, Durand was that bank's president from 1971 to 1973. He served as board chairman until 1993. Also, he was president of the Arkansas Acceptance Corporation and Acceptance Investment Company and served as a member of the board of directors of the American Industrial Bankers Association.
For almost six decades, Durand has been involved in some of the most important civic projects in Harrison's history. He is a past president of the Harrison Noon Lion's Club, the NoArk Girl Scout Council, Harrison Consolidated Youth Association, and the Harrison Planning Commission. He was the first president of the Hillcrest Home Board, serving 25 years in that capacity, and still is a board member. He was instrumental in establishing Hillcrest's operating agreement with the Mission Interest Committee of the Mennonite Churches of America.
Since 1946 Gene has been a devoted member of the First Presbyterian Church, elected and ordained as an elder, deacon, and trustee, and serving the church with his administrative skills through various building and renovation projects. He also served the church at the national level for nine years as a member of the Presbyterian Board of Pensions, an organization with over $5 billion in assets providing ministers with medical and retirement benefits.
A past member and president of the Harrison School Board, Durand has had a long-standing interest in advancing the educational opportunities of the community. He served on the Harrison Scholarship Association and was on the Governor's Advisory Board on Public Education from 1969-1972. Also, he served on the original committee organized in Boone County to establish North Arkansas Community College (now North Arkansas College).
"I've had an interest in education all of my life," Durand said two years ago when he was honored with the North Arkansas College Board of Trustees Award. "I served on the planning committee for the college and have always wanted to support it in any way I could. Betty and I agreed that education is the answer to many of the social and family problems society is experiencing today."