Mr. J. “Jay” Noal Lawhon

Mr. J. “Jay” Noal Lawhon was born in 1919 in Monarch, Arkansas, and was introduced to farming by his father at an  early age. Mr. Lawhon graduated from Catholic High School in 1938 and went to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on a football scholarship, where he pursued a degree in Agriculture. After being discharged from the Navy Air Corps due to injury, Mr. Lawhon pursued a career in education, including 11 years as a vo-tech ag instructor. In 1957, Mr. Lawhon went to work in agri business, first for Sturdivant Seed Company and Farm Supply; then, the Wonder State Seed Company in Forrest City; and finally, as an agriculture loan officer for Production Credit Association. In 1959, he and his wife took the knowledge he had gained and formed Lawhon Farm Supply Company in McCrory. Mr. Lawhon built the first bulk fertilizer blending facility in Arkansas, and he built and installed the only custom seed cleaner in a 50-mile radius. Through the years, he pioneered several other major agricultural innovations such as introducing the first custom application equipment for seed and chemicals in the Northeast Arkansas region. He was one of the first farmers to see corn as a good rotation crop and opened one of the first liquid fertilizer plants in Arkansas. In 1970, Mr. Lawhon began farming again himself. Mr. Lawhon received the “Pioneer Award for Outstanding Service to the Seed Industry” from the Arkansas Seed Dealers Association. In 1989, the Arkansas Business Association presented the “Business of the Year Award” to Jay and Lillian Lawhorn for their excellent quality and superior services rendered by Lawhon Farm Supply. In 1975, Jay founded the World Christian Relief Fund to help people in underdeveloped countries. He took his missionary work to Bangladesh, where he introduced a new variety of rice, he sponsored a family from Laos to the United States and visited Haiti, where he built fresh water wells and helped add new additions to hospitals. For his humanitarian work he was presented the “Ethel K. Miller Humanitarian Award” by Hendrix College.