Longtime GOP leader in NEA Billie Sue Hoggard has died

Longtime Republican party activist in Craighead County Billie Sue Hoggard has died after a battle with cancer, according to a social media post by the Craighead County Republican Committee.

Hoggard, 76, had served as the county’s Republican Party committee chair and as a justice of the peace. She was a former school teacher that graduated from Arkansas State University in 1986.

Details of her funeral have not been released.

“I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a transformer in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader,” Hoggard once said.

Well wishes poured in from members of the community as news broke that Hoggard passed away.

Andrea Allen, the executive director of Arkansas State University’s Delta Center for Economic Development, posted that she and Hoggard had been friends for years. The two attended many Republican party functions through the years.

“I will miss her. She made every meeting we attended together over the last 20 plus years a lot of fun, and I simply enjoyed being around her. Keeping her family in my prayers. Rest in peace, Billie Sue,” Allen said.