The voice of B.J. Sams was lifted in song, spreading good news to a saddened crowd.
“It’s a great, great morning, your first day in heaven,” he sang on Dec. 10, harmonizing on a Bill Gaither classic with the other members of his gospel quartet at Immanuel Baptist Church.
Sams’ voice, which delivered word of tragedy and triumph over a half-century of newscasting, didn’t fail him. He was hurting, but he didn’t falter in his tribute at the funeral of his colleague and “dear friend,” Beth Ward Haynie.
Known simply as Beth Ward through her 37-year career at KARK-TV and KTHV-TV in Little Rock, she had felt chest pains two days after Thanksgiving, and blockages were found in several arteries, Sams said.
“I visited her in the hospital; she was doing well, talking and sitting up,” the retired Channel 11 anchorman recalled. Then her aorta hemorrhaged, and surgery and life support couldn’t save her, he said. She died at age 74 on Dec. 8.
Haynie’s obituaries noted that at her retirement in 2005, she had been on Arkansas TV longer than any news personality, since 1968. She was a trailblazer for women on Little Rock TV, known for her weather reports and particularly as an engaging co-host of “Dialing for Dollars.”
Yes, she was all that, Sams said last week, but also “a true Christian” and “one of the sweetest people I knew.” A Virginian who studied at William & Mary College, she adopted Arkansas with a fervor after arriving in the 1960s.
“She will be remembered as one of the great ladies of Little Rock TV history,” Sams said in a telephone interview. “She paved the way for other women, but I think she’ll also be remembered as somebody the TV market in Little Rock loved.”
Sams said he had worked with Haynie for about 15 years, and when they were on the air together for KTHV’s noon newscast, “we sort of knew whatever the other was going to say, and we segued into things.”
Sams, who retired in 2009, said graciousness was the key to her success. “She exuded love when she was around people, including viewers who would come up and approach her. She cared, and that showed.”
Sams wasn’t surprised when multitudes mentioned they had grown up watching Beth Ward. “She was one of the first women on the air in this market, and she was good,” he said.
KATV anchorman Chris May agreed. “And there’s no doubt her success and enduring popularity opened countless doors for smart, strong female journalists at newsrooms all around the state.”
May said he came to appreciate Haynie’s style of interviewing. “Always gracious. Always kind. Always prepared, and professional at every turn.”
Ron Sherman, the longtime weatherman who became one of the nation’s most prolific producers of TV commercials, said Haynie “was one of our most-requested talents for years” at Ron Sherman Advertising, doing ads for Jacuzzi walk-in tubs, Temo Sunrooms and Erie Construction. “She was one of the most gifted talents I’ve ever seen,” Sherman said, noting how she connected with viewers.
The grace and kindness that came through on TV was just a reflection of Haynie’s nature, friends and colleagues said. “I was thrilled to get to know her as a person,” May said. “A perfect blend of Virginia and Arkansas. There was nothing quite as affirming as getting a compliment from Beth Ward, and she loved to hand them out. It’s who she was.”
Mark Raines of CJRW, the Little Rock advertising agency, was Haynie’s last news director at Channel 11, and her desk was just outside his office door. “She and I talked a lot about life and work and everything in between,” he said. “There were times when she would walk into my office and give me a hug because she sensed that I could use one.”
She knew when Raines needed encouragement, he said, but she didn’t hold back when she thought he was wrong about something. “But it was always done in a loving way.”
Raines said he last saw her about six months ago. “She gave me a big hug.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
