At 71, Dallas County's Gresham retires (once again)
July 21, 2025
By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts:
- Gresham taught high school for more than 33 years
- Also served as volunteer fire chief, Justice of the Peace
- Gresham family named Calhoun County Farm Family of the Year
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(Newsrooms: Download photo of Gresham)
FORDYCE, Ark. — At 71, Keith Gresham isn't exactly slowing down. But he is retiring from the Cooperative Extension Service, the latest in a lifelong string of full-time careers. For the former schoolteacher, Justice of the Peace, and 40-year Calhoun County fire chief, it likely won't be the last.
Gresham, Dallas County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, joined extension in 2011 after teaching vocational agriculture at Rison High School for more than 33 years in neighboring Cleveland County. During his time as a public school teacher, he helped lead the local FFA program, which in turn introduced him to Les Walz, then Cleveland County extension staff chair.
Gresham “was the fair board president when I first came to Cleveland County, and I was fortunate to learn from him during those early years as a staff chair,” Walz said. “I quickly learned what a valuable asset Keith was to Rison and Cleveland County and quickly fell into friendship with him, mainly because of what I could learn from him on what a ‘citizen’ is truly supposed to look like.”
Gresham and Walz organized many events involving both FFA and Arkansas 4-H over the years. When Gresham decided to move on from his position with Rison High School, he consulted with Walz about the plausibility of taking on an extension agent role in Dallas County.
“I asked Les about the job, he said, ‘Well, there’s quite a bit to it,’” Gresham said. “I asked him if he thought I could handle it, and he said, ‘You probably could.’ I asked him about applying at Fordyce, and he said, ‘If you ain’t serious about it, I wouldn’t put one in.’”
But he was, and he did.
Partly due to staffing shortages at the time, Gresham was not only hired as an extension agent, he was made staff chair for the county immediately.
“I jumped in with both feet on day one,” he said. He credited the support staff already in place at the county extension office for his early and continued success. Beverly Ann Brown, administrative specialist for the Division of Agriculture, had been at the Dallas County extension office for about 20 years at that point.
“She knew what all had to be done and how to do it,” Gresham said. “I don’t think they would’ve put me in that position without people like her in place. We’ve been plugging away here for 14 years.”
Overlapping his time with extension, Gresham has also served as fire chief for the Chambersville Volunteer Fire Department in Thornton, Arkansas, which he helped found in 1985. Over four decades, Gresham helped secure grants that expanded the department facilities from a one-room shotgun-style building to a four-bay fire station with an attached meeting room and community center.
He has also served as a Justice of the Peace on the Calhoun County Quorum Court for the past 20 years, earning him the nickname “Mr. Tri-County.”
In June, Gresham, along with his wife, Debbie, and their adult children, Clay Gresham and Katie Gerard, were named Calhoun County Farm Family of the Year. Shaney Hill, extension staff chair for Calhoun County, said that the Greshams’ nomination was based on more than simply their farming operation, which has included hay, timber and cattle for more than 100 years.
“Mr. Keith Gresham has a true servant's heart,” Hill said. His family’s nomination notes that Gresham “has been a devoted community servant, beloved agriculture teacher, extension agent, friend, mentor and man of God. Mr. Keith is well-respected in Cleveland, Dallas and Calhoun Counties. He is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. I am so grateful to have been blessed to have him as a co-worker, mentor and friend for almost four years.”
Gresham will retire from the Cooperative Extension Service on July 31. Asked what’s next, he said simply, “I’m thinkin’ I may need to get myself another job.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Ryan McGeeney
rmcgeeney@uada.edu
501-671-2120