Hope business and outdoorsman Lester Sitzes, Jr. celebrated his 80th birthday recently at the Hope Country Club. The party was thrown by friends and family to honor a man who has contributed to many lives, according to his three sons.
“ I grew up in Gurdon which wasn't all that far from Hope to begin with. I had no regrets about coming to Hope. If I had it to do all over again, that is what I'd do,” Sitzes, Jr. said.
Sitzes was the son of Lester Sitzes Sr., and also has a son Lester Sitzes, III, who operates a dental office in Hope where his father practiced dentistry in Hope from 1963 until his retirement in 1991.
Sitzes, Jr., is a past member of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club. He moved his memberships from Gurdon when he moved to Hope.
Sitzes served as president of the Arkansas State Dental Association. Sitzes said he served as well on other state commissions and regional commissions.
Sitzes was a member of the State Health Coordinating Council. He was involved with some of the first decisions made about the Medical Park Hospital.
He said it has been an ongoing battle to keep the costs of health care down, one of the reasons the committee was formed. He said before a hospital or nursing home could buy a piece of large equipment it has to be approved by the commission.
Sitzes said at that time there was the discussion of 25 beds being added to the hospital.
The commission voted against the decision to add beds and stuck to the original design.
“ The people on the commission felt like that would just be a drag on the hospital. Additional beds, even if they are empty, would cost money because you have to heat and air the place,” Sitzes, Jr. said.
“ The commission did not allow the beds to be added. If you look back in hindsight, the last thing the hospital needs is some more empty beds out there. But it seemed like an emotional thing at the time.” Sitzes said he refrained from voting because it was his home.
Sitzes has three sons, Lester, Donald and David. He said two sons are dentists and one is a medical doctor.
“ My boys grew up in Hope and I think they appreciate Hope. They have also had some very successful friends. Had they not been in Hope they may not have had those friends,” Sitzes said.
Sitzes said his son Lester was a good friend of Mike Huckabee and recently traveled to New York to sit on on one a taping of one of Huckabee's television shows.
David Sitzes has a medical practice in Belle Vista. His son Donald has a dental office in Nashville.
He said each of his children have three children and each have two boys and one girl. He is also happy to be a great-grandfather as well.
Going back to where he formed his outlook on life, Sitzes talked about growing up the son of a railroad man.
Sitzes said his father and mother were railroad telegraph operators when he was born.
His mother had worked as a telegraph operator due to a “man shortage” as a result of WWI. He grew up with his father being a railroad agent in Gurdon for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad..
“ He ran the depot at Gurdon. Gurdon always had trains that started there and went to El Dorado, Little Rock and back and Texarkana and back. The train crews all lived in Gurdon. That is where the run started and ended. It was up to him to get all the train crews out when the train was going to run,” Sitzes said.
“ I saw some interesting things. I remember during World War II, I was a teenager and a train came through and it was loaded down with German war prisoners, people we had taken prisoner over in Germany and France. They were sending them to camps. They came through just like a regular passenger train, but they were all prisoners.” he said.
Sitzes said Hope has been an ideal place for what his family loves.
“ I like to duck hunt, deer hunt, and squirrel hunt. This is about as good as it gets around here, for crappie fishing and outdoor things,” he said.
He said his sons love outdoor sporting as well.
“The boys got their admiration for the outdoors from me I am sure. It just kind of runs down through the family. My dad fished and hunted,” Sitzes said.
