This year, Randall and Shirley Reynolds will officially retire from the Gravette School District. For generations of Gravette Middle School students, the Reynolds name has been familiar and beloved. Mrs. Reynolds taught English. Mr. Reynolds taught math. Their subjects occupied different ends of the academic spectrum, but their classrooms sat side-by-side and their careers became part of a shared story.
Randall and Shirley Reynolds in the mid-2000s at the GMS Library
As they begin their next chapter, the Reynolds are fulfilling two long-term goals: to retire on the same day and enjoy retirement while they are in good health. It’s a fitting closure to two Gravette careers that also began on the same day. Through mutual support and steady leadership, their work at Gravette Middle School became a sum greater than two parts.
Shirley Reynolds was born in Gravette and later moved from Decatur to Springdale. Randall Reynolds grew up in Springdale, though the two never met as students of Springdale High School. Their paths first crossed in summer 1984 at a part-time restaurant job. Over the next decade they stayed in touch as life carried them in different directions. Shirley studied education at the University of Arkansas and began teaching in Dover. Randall served four years in the United States Air Force working on laser-guided bombing systems. Nearly a decade after the two first met, they reconnected, began dating seriously, and married in 1994.
Randall and Shirley Reynolds’ engagement portrait (1994)
After Randall earned his engineering degree using the GI Bill, he worked at the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad and later ran a construction business. What pulled him toward education was seeing Shirley’s joy in the classroom. “That made me want to be a teacher,” Randall said. “So I said, hey, I’ve got an engineering degree. What would it take to become a teacher?”
Randall pursued non-traditional licensure, and a few years later, began looking for his own classroom. At the time, Shirley had been teaching for years in West Fork. Her work there started with a challenging classroom situation.
“At the end of the first quarter is when I started teaching there. It was hard,” Shirley said. “The kids had run a teacher off. She had a nervous breakdown. I went just to observe, and I watched them run all over a sub.”
She confronted the challenge by establishing authority, then building relationships. “I knew I was going to have to say something because they know that I'm watching this, and I'm going to come in as their teacher,” Shirley said. “I came in, like, ‘Nope. We’re not doing this.’ At the end of the day, a kid found me and said, ‘They’re calling you Snow White with an attitude.’”
Shirley starts each year with time aside to set the tone before instruction begins. “The main thing that I do for the first two weeks is establish the rules, the procedures, the expectations,” Shirley explained. “I build a rapport. We just do activities that are like, ‘get-to-know-you.’ And all of the assignments are just teaching the expectations from the get go.” Randall agreed, “The rapport is probably the biggest thing that the teacher can even have.”
Randall and Shirley Reynolds dressed in blue for an anti-bullying campaign. Shirley won the costume contest for staff.
Shirley developed this approach in her early years teaching in Dover. She carpooled to work with the school counselor who previously taught in the same position. “It was a perfect setup for me as a first-year teacher to have a built-in mentor that I commuted with every day. It was amazing” Shirley said.
Randall had several possible paths into teaching. He and Shirley were living in West Fork with their children when he held off on an offer from Dumas. He was hoping for something closer to home. Then came a call from Mitchell Wilber, Gravette Middle School principal from 1990 to 2010. Wilber interviewed Randall and offered the job. What sealed the deal came after Randall mentioned Shirley’s career. Mr. Wilber said they had an opening in her subject too, meaning the Reynolds could work together in the same school. Randall accepted the position.
But that decision was challenged after a district right next to West Fork came calling. “I told them, hey, I gave my word,” Randall explained. “They said, ‘have you signed the contract?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then that don’t matter.’ ‘Well, that matters to me.’ And, so that’s how we ended up here at Gravette.”
Shirley accepted too, and as the couple commuted from West Fork to Gravette, she found herself in a reversed role from her early years of teaching. “I was a brand new teacher,” said Randall. “I didn't do any student teaching. My first day in the classroom, my name was on the door. She was kind of my mentor, riding to school and riding back home.” Once their children also became Lions, the Reynolds had moved to Gravette, placing the schools in the center of their family life.
A newspaper photo of the first day of school in 2003. It's become famous in the Reynolds' circle for the caption accidentally reversing Randall and Thomas Reynolds’ names
Their early years at Gravette looked a bit different from the classrooms students know today. When Randall and Shirley started, a can of compressed air was a tool of the trade for blowing chalk dust out of the computer fan. Shirley preferred overhead projectors and colored markers. Whiteboards came later, and many years after that, Smart Boards. But no matter what technology came along, the Reynolds’ classrooms never needed to fundamentally change. It was always about convincing students they are capable, helping them understand the material, and showing them a path through it.
HollyAnn Crawford, a former student who later became a Gravette teacher, remembered class with both Reynolds fondly. “They never make you feel like there’s a dumb question,” she said. “They never make you feel uncomfortable. In fact, just the opposite.”
“I struggled in math, and I left that class feeling like a genius,” said Diana Cradduck, another former student who now teaches in Gravette. “Mr. Reynolds never made me feel stupid for asking a question. He would say things like, and I remember this vividly, ‘That’s a great question, and I can answer that.’”
“Sometimes students say, ‘I don’t like math,’” Randall said, “That’s okay. You don’t have to. But we’re going to do it. English was hard for me. But we’re going to get better. We’re going to make progress. Every day is a productive step forward.”
Shirley built consistency into her classroom through small rewards. If students met expectations for the week, they left class on Friday with a Jolly Rancher. The message behind it was that effort matters and students are capable of meeting the standard. Mrs. Reynolds became known as “the Jolly Rancher queen,” and she leaned into the persona with Jolly Rancher decorations near her desk.
Shirley Reynolds, school nurse Marie Kane, Randall Reynolds, and Thomas Reynolds at the GMS Country Day festival where students set up booths and presented projects they had worked on all year long in Robin Morris’s social studies class (2003)
Consistency made both Reynolds strong leaders of students, but Randall and Shirley also became leaders of the adults around them. Aaron Ray, Gravette Middle School band teacher, described Mr. Reynolds as “a steady presence in the halls and the classroom” and someone who demonstrates “quiet leadership.” Ray said, “He cares about kids, cares about his colleagues, and leads by example.”
Brad Leach, a science teacher at Gravette Middle School, echoed the sentiment. “Randall Reynolds is a great team leader and has always been there for me when I need help,” Leach said. “He is the moral center of our group.”
HollyAnn Crawford said, “[Shirley] is the best mentor. I mean, they both are. She just always makes me feel so welcome. With [Randall], if I have any questions and he doesn’t really know, he’s like, ‘Let me go find out.’ And very soon, he came to me with an answer.”
In the early years of the Reynolds’ time at Gravette Middle School, Arkansas benchmark testing became more significant. Randall remembered the first eighth-grade math scores falling well below the state average. Teachers came together, studied the test content, built targeted interventions, and designed rewards and incentives to drive engagement. Within a few years, Gravette Middle School moved from trailing behind state averages to surpassing them by nearly 20 points. They have never fallen low since.
Randall Reynolds, Former Principal Duane Thomas, and Taylor Lewis, recognized at the December 2015 School Board meeting for high test scores. Photo by Susan Holland
For both Randall and Shirley, another defining experience came during what they call “the year of the quads.” After a classroom fire caused smoke damage throughout the building, seventh and eighth grade classes moved into the old gym for several weeks. Teachers divided the space into makeshift classrooms using large blocks as temporary walls, while students worked without many of their normal supplies. The entire middle school staff shared Teacher of the Year honors for that year. However, the biggest challenge came from the second year that staff shared Teacher of the Year: 2020-2021. Randall and Shirley agreed that Covid was the hardest thing they ever went through as educators.
Randall Reynolds helping a student with their catch at the 2026 end-of-year fishing club derby
For Randall, one of the clearest examples of his dedication to the kids was the Gravette Middle School Fishing Club. As the club sponsor, he shared his love for the sport, taught students practical outdoor skills, and demonstrated fishing techniques. The club’s final fishing derby sponsored by Mr. Reynolds brought about 100 students and their family members to Mt. Hebron Park in Rogers on May 13, 2026. The afternoon also marked a milestone for Mrs. Reynolds. Despite being married to the fishing club sponsor, she caught her first fish ever right before their final days in the classroom.
Shirley Reynolds holding the first fish she has ever caught in her life the week before retirement
On May 15, 2026, staff from across the district gathered in the Gravette Middle School cafeteria for Randall and Shirley’s retirement party. Current and former colleagues, former students, administrators, and family members came together after school to celebrate the couple’s years of service. Former sixth grade math teacher Jackie Galyean prepared the food, and the room became a reunion of people who had shared pieces of the Reynolds’ Gravette story.
Superintendent Jeff Gravette spoke at the celebration, joining colleagues and friends in recognizing two careers that had become part of the middle school’s identity.
Shirley said she wants to do volunteer work, possibly at a food pantry or library somewhere between Gravette and Bella Vista. She also wants to be more involved in church activities, including women’s Bible studies and discipleship groups, because work made it challenging to do those things before.
Randall said one thing he is looking forward to is fishing on a weekday, when the weather is nice and there are fewer people out. That may happen soon at Sanibel Island, Florida, a vacation spot they love. Shirley likes collecting shells there while Randall’s casting. They also talked about traveling more and seeing family, including a son and grandchild in California and a daughter in Colorado.
Sharing more about their post-retirement plans, Randall said the future feels open, exciting, and a little uncertain.
“We are a little apprehensive because change is scary,” Randall said. “I think it’s kind of like when I graduated from high school. I’m like, ‘Man, I’m glad that’s behind me. But, man, there’s a big future out there, and I don’t know what it looks like yet.’ And that’s what it feels like right now.”
As Randall and Shirley look ahead to life after retirement, the people who worked with them have been looking back on what they meant to Gravette Middle School. Assistant Principal Cory Briggs said, “Although I only had the privilege of working alongside the Reynolds for two years, it was easy to see why they have earned so much respect throughout their 28 years in our district. It did not take long for me to recognize that they are truly among the finest educators in our middle school.”
Former Principal Wilber, who hired them both, shared, “They were so genuine about doing the right things for their kids. You know, the value is more than just being a good teacher. They are character role models and, you know, the kind that fleece the ranks a little bit.”
Principal Jones said, “Randall and Shirley have been such a constant here. They are going to be missed immensely. For about the first two years of my principalship, I tried to beat them here in the mornings. For the most part, I was unsuccessful. I really thought I had made it when mine was the first car in the parking lot. It was a joy to see them in action and I don't know what I will do without them.”
Former Principal Mitchell Wilber, Randall Reynolds, Shirley Reynolds, and Principal Taos Jones, who asked for a photo with “the principal that hired them, and the principal that ran ‘em off.”
Whether a student passed through their rooms or not, everyone knew the Reynolds at Gravette Middle School. Students who were in their class universally praised them both for their patience, faith in them, and genuine interest in their growth. Their classrooms gave students confidence, and their presence gave colleagues stability. Randall and Shirley Reynolds started teaching at Gravette Middle School in 1999, on the same day. After nearly three decades in the same building, they retired on the same day.
Thank you, Randall and Shirley Reynolds, for giving Gravette students, families, and colleagues your time, care, wisdom, and an example to follow. You will be missed dearly in Gravette Schools.
A staff Christmas photo taken shortly after the Reynolds began working at Gravette Middle School
