Saline County History and Heritage Society presents WWII in Arkansas, with a special project on German Stasi. Come to this event Thursday, May 9th. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. but come early to get a good parking spot, a good seat and good conversation.
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Guest speakers will be Beth and Billy Mathys, along with Hank Herzfeld. The public is invited and the event is free. The address is 123 N Market Street in Downtown Benton, between the Republican headquarters and Rock N Roll Sushi.
Learn about the speakers:
Beth Mathys was born in Hot Springs and moved to Saline County before she started school. She graduated from Benton High School in 1986. Beth moved away from Benton during college but moved back in 2000. She began teaching eighth grade English at Benton Junior High in 2012. She taught 8th and 9th grade English at Benton until 2019 when she moved to Bauxite School District as the high school counselor. Beth now works for a grant through the Arkansas Department of Education where she travels Arkansas and presents to schools about mental health for our youth, trauma-informed classrooms, school culture, and many other subjects. Beth is an avid traveler and sponsors a local travel club.
Billy Mathys was born in Little Rock but lived in Benton as a child. His family moved to Little Rock when he was young. He went to college at UCA where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design with a minor in History. He returned to Saline County in 2000. He has worked in design for over 30 years and currently works at Oaklawn as the Creative and Production Supervisor. Billy’s hobbies include travel, techy stuff, and researching ancestry and WWII.
Billy and Beth met while working at Sam’s Club in Little Rock. They have been married almost 30 years and have two grown children who both graduated from Benton High School. They live in downtown Benton and absolutely love it.
Hank Herzfeld is an undergraduate student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He is studying History and Political Science and plans to graduate in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in these subjects. In the pursuit of his honors program within the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Hank has been required to study a foreign language and complete an undergraduate thesis in one of his majors.
He decided to combine these requirements and is writing his thesis on the German historical memory of the East German Ministry for State Security, called the “Stasi” for short. The Stasi were based on a Soviet proto-KGB secret police model and amassed the largest known pre-digital collection of files on individuals’ lives and political involvement from 1949 to 1990. Most of Hank’s research is in the German language and he made significant progress while in Berlin last Fall semester.
Hank is a recipient of the prestigious Bodenhamer Fellowship, an award granted to six outstanding incoming Arkansas freshmen each year. It provides almost full funding for four years of study and opportunities to fund study abroad and graduate school application resources. He graduated from Benton High School in 2021 as Valedictorian and has lived in Saline County his whole life. He plans to use his degree to enter law school and plans to return to Benton after completing his legal education. This summer he will be studying for his Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and then interning for Senator John Boozman in Washington, D.C. in July.
Browse the list of all the events in Saline County at www.mysaline.com/events.