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Submitted: 2/13/23 • Approved: 2/14/23 • Last Updated: 2/17/23 • R1471316-G0-S3
US Navy
Korea
April 1, 1932 - April 7, 2022
*Obituary
Dr. Harold Dean Love, professor emeritus of the College of Education at the University of Central Arkansas, died on April 7, 2022 at age 90. He was born April 1, 1932, in Doddsville, MS, the youngest child of Thomas Elvin and Blanche Belana Love. The family moved to Greenville when Harold was three years old and he graduated from Greenville High School in 1950, where he was president of the senior class.
Love attended Sunflower Junior College for two years on a football scholarship where he was a starter on offense and defense. In 1952 he entered the US Navy where he served on the USS Missouri for two years and spent one tour of duty in Korea.
After navy duty he attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a BS degree in 1957 and an MS degree in 1958. While at Southern Miss, he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. His first college job was in Special Education at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where he was an assistant professor and served one year as chairman of the department. In 1961 he entered the University of Northern Colorado to pursue a doctorate in Special Education, which he received in May, 1963. In June of 1963, Dr. Love, wife Sue and son Hal moved to Conway, Arkansas, where he became assistant professor of Education and Psychology.
In 1965 he was appointed chairman of the newly established Department of Special Education. He was also instrumental in the development of programs leading to the establishment of the Department of Speech and Language Pathology.
Love was chairman of Special Education for 18 years until 1983 and he continued to serve the department as a tenured professor until his retirement in May 1998. During his tenure at UCA, he authored 29 textbooks, more than 20 journal articles and one reading test. He had 7 poems published in magazines and books. In addition to his scholarly activities, he was active in grant writing that resulted in the acquisition of four major grants leading to the training of teachers in Arkansas. "Many Arkansas teachers and administrators owe their professional development to the vision of Dr. Love", the faculty wrote upon his retirement.
Love was also active in service to the university and the community. He was president of United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas and the Arkansas Federation of the Council for Exceptional Children, taskforce chairman of the committee for the Arkansas White House conference and served as a consultant and vocational expert for the U.S. Department of Labor, Railroad Retirement System, Social Security System and the NDEA Institute on Disadvantaged Youth. He was an alderman on the Conway City Council from 1968 to 1978, and a member of the Conway Noon Lions Club.
He received awards and honors from the Bumper's Committee on Mental Retardation, Rockefeller's Commission on Mental Retardation and the Governor's Committee on Related Health Services. UCA awarded him the President's Achievement Award and the President's Service Award, and the University of Northern Colorado awarded him a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1998.
He was an avid reader and enjoyed hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities, as well as traveling. Among his hobbies were beekeeping and maintaining a beautiful rose garden, where he tended and hybridized roses.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Sue McDavid Love, of 64 years. He is also survived by one son, Harold Dean Love, Jr. (Lisa), daughters Laina Love Jones (Stephen), Wendy Love Hicky (Philip), and grandchildren Mason and Emilie Jones, Brenner and Porter Hicky, Ethan and Claire Pierret, and Nickolas and Katrina Van Etten. He is preceded in death by sister Margaret Love Watkins, and daughter Susie Love Van Etten.
A private graveside service will be held at Crestlawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Harold and Sue Love Scholarship Fund at the UCA Foundation (uca.edu/foundation), or The Alzheimer's Association (alz.org).
Contributed on 2/13/23 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1471316