Biography: Olive Biggs Baldridge, 97, of Heber Springs died Saturday, February, 27, 2010 in Little Rock. She was a lifelong resident of Cleburne County, Arkansas, where she met her husband, William T. Baldridge. She grew up in a farm family and told wonderful stories of country living: smokehouses, one-room schoolhouses, livestock dips, and saving her sister from a snake and her brother from drowning in a deep puddle. Her parents were fun and easygoing, with dance parties in the living room on Saturday nights. Her mother taught her love by heating bricks in the fireplace and wrapping them in blankets to warm her children’s beds through the night. While in high school, as a cheerleader, she and her squad rode with the team in the back of a flatbed truck to North Little Rock. She cheered the Panthers to victory over NLR High School that day. In her 20s, she worked at the Arkansas Legislature during the session that saw the end to Prohibition—and not surprisingly her father received a license for the first liquor store in Heber Springs. Her husband Bill had served more than 10 years in the U.S. Navy before their marriage in 1940, after which she followed him up and down the East Coast, living in Boston, New York, and other points along the coast. He remarked that “Olive always has the name of a new restaurant when I come home.” After seven years of marriage, Olive and Bill welcomed their only child, Julia Ann, who was born in the port city of Norfolk, Virginia. Although they built their home in Heber Springs soon after Julie’s birth, the Baldridges continued to travel with the Navy for almost ten years. Bill ended his career in 1957 after 30 years, following a three-year stint at Naval Headquarters near Washington, D.C. during which time his family lived in Arlington, Virginia. Back in Heber Springs, Olive continued to correspond with a host of Navy friends across the country. Olive was a devoted charter member of the First Presbyterian Church in Heber Springs, and a leader of the group that funded the church building in the 1960s and secured their first minister. She was also a fierce Democrat, making it her job to know and understand all candidates and their positions. She read the newspaper every day, including the last day of her life. Her first serious campaign was getting her husband elected Mayor of Heber Springs in 1960. During her last 35 years of life, candidates for the Arkansas Legislature, Congress and Governor made it a point when they visited Heber Springs to stop by Miss Olive’s home to ask for her support. She was a one-woman phone bank, and she delivered the votes on election day. She was so proud of the letter she received from President Bill Clinton, handwritten on Air Force One on his last day as President. Olive’s influence grew from her knowledge, her kindness, and her actions to help others. She reached out to everyone she met in ways small and large. She delivered Meals on Wheels to “the old people” well into her 80s. She could talk your ears off, and she always had important things to say. Olive is survived by her daughter, Julia Ann Baldridge, and her granddaughter, Maggie Cecilia Baldridge Smith. She also is survived by her sister-in-law, Charlsie Baldridge Little, and her nieces and nephews Beth Rocha, Nancy Lehman, Jane Daniels , Jack Little, Dr. John Baldridge, and Sarah Jane Fraser. She was preceded in death by her husband Lt. Cmdr. William Theodore Baldridge, her grandson Albert Theodore Speed, her parents Nancy Margaret and Fred Biggs, her sister Evelyn Biggs Russell, and her brothers Charles, Clyde, and Johnnie Biggs. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church at 1313 West Pine Street in Heber Springs, with a gathering after the service for family and friends. Flowers are welcome, and memorial gifts may be made to the Albert Speed Charitable Fund at Arkansas Community Foundation, 1400 West Markham St. #206, Little Rock 72201, or to the charity or cause of choice. Arrangements are under the direction of Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.