LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders today announced the fifth installment of Faces of Arkansas, a monthly series highlighting Arkansans whose portraits and stories are displayed at the entrance to the Governor’s office as a reminder of who the Governor and her team serve every day: the people of Arkansas. The series was launched to keep the focus of public service rooted in the individuals and communities that make the state what it is.

Each month, a different Arkansan is featured through a written profile, portrait photography, and a short video, with their framed photo hanging inside the Capitol. Selections are based on individuals who make Arkansas function — whether by serving as the heartbeat of their local communities, overcoming obstacles to achieve their dreams, or playing an essential role in their industry. 

This installment features Jolinda Bryant, of Conway, Department of Human Services Fiscal Support Specialist.

Jolinda Bryant – I Just Do It

For nearly 60 years, Jolinda Bryant has made the same drive to work. Two miles there. Two miles home.

It is a detail she offers the way she talks about most things: plainly, without trying to make too much of them. But in many ways, that steady routine says everything about her. For decades, Bryant has shown up to the Conway Human Development Center with the same sense of purpose that first brought her there in 1966: to do her job well, to help where she is needed, and to keep going.

“I’ve always worked,” she said. “It’s just my way of life.”

This week marks 60 years of service for Bryant, a milestone she will officially reach on April 2nd.

Bryant is currently the State of Arkansas’ longest-tenured employee, having spent nearly six decades in public service, all at the same center, all rooted in commitment to the local families needing assistance.

She serves as a fiscal support specialist for the Department of Human Services in Conway, where her work keeps the daily operations of the center moving, from balancing accounts to reconciling statements to assisting wherever the office needs her.
But her story is not one she tells in terms of titles or milestones. She tells it in habits. In responsibilities. In the simple discipline of doing what needs to be done.

At her desk, Bryant still keeps a handwritten book to track part of her daily work. When the numbers match and everything balances, she writes one short note beside the day’s entry: “BAL.” Then she closes the book and starts again the next day.

Bryant came to Conway as a teenager and graduated from vocational school after high school, where she learned the skills that would help shape her career: shorthand, typing, adding machines, and the basics of office work. College was out of reach at the time, so she got to work. After marrying her husband, Rob, at 19, she knew she needed a job. Through a connection to the personnel director at what was then called the Arkansas Children’s Colony, she got an interview and has been there ever since.

Over the years, she has worked through sweeping changes in both the workplace and the world around it. She started with typewriters and handwritten ledgers. She watched the center evolve, its systems modernize, and its leadership change through multiple administrations, superintendents, and business managers. She saw the move from paper to computers, even if, as she puts it, that transition was “a terrible adjustment” at first.

“I hate computers,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t help it.”
Still, she adapted, as she always has. That same willingness to step in wherever needed became the hallmark of her career. For 22 years, Bryant also served as acting supervisor for the center’s switchboard, on top of her regular duties, often without extra pay. She worked nights, weekends, and long shifts when necessary. Even after officially retiring for a brief period in 2005, she returned after just two months. During that time away, she still came in after hours to help keep the books balanced.

“I felt like I still had some work ethic in me,” she said.

That instinct – to keep helping, to keep showing up – runs through every part of her story.

Bryant describes herself as a people person, someone who can strike up a conversation anywhere and leave knowing someone’s life story. At work, that has meant more than just balancing numbers. It has meant checking in on coworkers, filling in when others are out, helping staff through hard times, and making herself available whenever someone needs a hand.

“I just want to be a help,” she said. “Just for people to know, hey, I’m here if you need me.”

That spirit has made her a steady presence in the office, but also in the lives of the people around her. Outside of work, Bryant has taught two-year-olds in Sunday school for roughly 45 years. She has watched generations of children grow up, get married, and start families of their own. She speaks about those years the same way she speaks about her work life: as a natural extension of who she is.

She does not seem especially interested in being celebrated. More than once, Bryant brushed aside the attention that comes with recognition, insisting she is “just a plain Jane person” who loves her job.

But spend a few minutes with her, and that description begins to shift. She is quick to tell a story, quicker to ask about yours, the kind of person who rarely meets a stranger and rarely leaves a conversation without knowing something about the person in front of her. When asked what it means to stand out after 60 years of service, she answered simply: “You don’t do it for such as this. You do it because you have a passion for what you do.”

That may be exactly why her story resonates.

In an age that often prizes movement, reinvention, and visibility, Bryant’s life offers a quieter example of purpose: staying, serving, and finding meaning not in the spotlight, but in usefulness. Her career has been built not on spectacle, but on consistency. On the belief that even the work people do not always see still matters deeply.

She never speaks of time the way others might.

“No, it does not seem at all,” she said when asked whether 60 years feels like a long time. “I never think about length of time. I don’t. I just do it.”

As long as she is able, Bryant says she plans to continue coming in. There is still work to do. Still people to help. Still another day’s balance to check. For nearly 60 years, Arkansas has had Jolinda Bryant quietly at work in Conway – steady, dependable, and just doing what she has always done.

###

Thomas Saccente

[email protected]

Thomas Saccente covers Bentonville and Benton County news for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He has spent most of his life in Arkansas and started his professional journalism career in Fort Smith in 2015. He began working for the Democrat-Gazette in 2019, covering the River Valley before moving to Northwest Arkansas in 2024. His hobbies include reading, listening to music and going on long, winding adventures on his road bike.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will hold a news conference Tuesday morning to make an announcement and recognize recipients of grants through the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism.

Sanders will highlight recipients of the FUN Park Grants, Matching Grants, and the Great Strides Program across 23 counties. The grants were created to provide funding for outdoor development in Arkansas communities.

The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. A live stream will be available in the live player above.