(Posted: April 24, 2007) (Printable Version)
More than 200 individuals representing 12 states and one foreign country attended the April 20-21 conference “Religion and Reaction: The Life, Times and Legacy of Parley Parker Pratt,” according to Dr. Greg Armstrong, associate professor Spanish at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and chair of the steering committee planning the conference.
Pratt was a prominent leader during the formative years of the early Mormon church or latter-day movement which today includes the Community of Christ Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as a few other small denominations.
The series of commemorative events held in Fort Smith and Van Buren marked the bicentennial of Pratt’s birth and the sesquicentennial of his assassination near Rudy in 1857.
Dr. Paul B. Beran, chancellor at UA Fort Smith, greeted the assembled conferees at a welcome banquet. Dr. Roxane LaCombe of Sallisaw, visiting assistant professor at UA Fort Smith, and Dr. David Warner of Maumelle, a great-great-great-grandson of Parley P. Pratt, sang a love song with text Pratt wrote to his young wife when he was leaving for a long-term missionary assignment. The banquet program included a posthumous salute to four Crawford County residents who provided humanitarian and compassionate service to Pratt’s widow at the time of his murder May 13, 1857.
The banquet concluded with a surprise recorded performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, prepared in anticipation of the conference.
Other events included an academic conference at the Fort Smith Convention Center and a concert at the Darby Junior High School Auditorium by Nashville musicians Dan Truman (Diamond Rio), Jason Deere, Ron Saltmarsh (DueWest) and Brad Hull. A readers’ theatre production, held at the King Opera House in Van Buren, was written and directed by Michael McCurdy, general manager of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock.
Other members of the UA Fort Smith family participating in the event were Billy Higgins, History Department; Jason Johnson, Music Department; Tony Pulatie, Humanities; and Dr. Henry Rinne, Humanities and Fine Arts. Dr. Dennis Siler, assistant professor of English, was the program chair for the academic conference.
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