Schoolteacher and Arkansas state flag designer Willie Kavanaugh Hocker

I truly enjoy sharing stories about dedicated educators who have earned fame for accomplishments outside of the classroom. One of these is elementary school teacher and Arkansas state flag designer Willie Kavanaugh Hocker.

Willie was born the youngest child of a farming family in Crooksville, Madison County, Kentucky, on July 21, 1862. When she was still a young girl, her family moved to Arkansas.

Once she became a young woman, Willlie studied at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1887 she earned her teaching certificate, and then she began teaching at a rural elementary school in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. She taught there for 34 years. Throughout her long teaching career, she always emphasized Arkansas state history. She also wrote short stories and poetry. Her best known poems are “Arkansas” and “Ozark Mountaineer.”

Willie is best known as being the designer of the state flag of Arkansas. This came about when the teacher became a member of the Pine Bluff Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1912, the group decided to present a state flag to the newly commissioned battleship USS Arkansas. To their surprise, they were told that Arkansas didn’t have a state flag. To remedy this, Willie encouraged state legislators to hold a competition to design a new state flag. Willie created an innovative design for a flag which was later adopted as the Arkansas state ensign.

This accomplished educator passed away in Dunnington Township, Jefferson County, Arkansas, on February 6, 1944. She was 81 years old. She is interred at Bellwood Cemetery in Pine bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas.

A mural of this amazing chalkboard champion has been created on Highway 65 near the courthouse. View the photo of this mural below:

Colorful mural of schoolteacher and flag designer Willie Kavanaugh Hocker located on Arkansas Highway 65.