cooking for a cause
Story by Susan O'Connor; Photo by Dero Sanford

Working for a worthwhile cause comes naturally for Gene Vance. His rural Lawrence County upbringing included a strong work ethic and a father figure who served as a powerful role model.

“My dad (Howard Vance) was always involved. He served on the Hoxie School Board, was mayor of Sedgwick, served on numerous state boards, was chamber president. To not be involved would be a contradiction to how I was brought up.”

Vance’s service over the years includes several stints on the Jonesboro City Council, Jonesboro Economic Development Commission, Jonesboro Chamber of Commerce board of directors and Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. He is a board member and past president of the board of CityYouth Ministries, and has been a board member and chairman of The Learning Center. He works for the Out of the Dark Coalition, and has held leadership roles in North Main Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church.

A family of doers, the Vance men worked together in the family construction business, B.B. Vance & Sons, based in Sedgwick. During the years of his childhood, rural schools had split terms — school in the summer, then time off for the fall harvest. Vance picked his share of cotton, but mostly worked during his high school years as a general laborer for the family business. It would be the start of a continuous 40-year career in the industry.

Vance completed an engineering degree from Arkansas State University in 1972, and served as staff sergeant in operations for the 875th Engineering Battalion from 1966-1973.

From 1975-2005, he took the helm of B.B. Vance & Sons Inc., a business that grew under his direction to a $23 million general construction firm with such major projects as St. Bernard’s north patient wing, cancer treatment center, parking deck and Heartcare Center, Holiday Inn Express and Central Baptist Church.

In 2005, Vance took the post of vice president of preconstruction services at Nabholz Construction Corporation, and in 2007 formed Vance Construction Solutions, LLC. He is also owner and operator of Jonesboro Overhead Door. He has worked side-by-side with his wife, Peggy, throughout his career.

But, over the years, Vance has acquired another skill for which he has become locally famous. Vance is a real cook, a griller, or a pit master, as purveyors of barbecue call themselves. Vance gives of his time and talent all over the city, cooking for good causes.

“I enjoy helping people,” he said. “All the events I do are for organizations that are out there to help people. I do it in order to allow them to utilize the entry fees for the good of their purpose and not pay somebody to cater the event.”
Vance’s introduction to the ways and means of barbecuing began with trips to the annual Portia Picnic in Portia, a century-old Fourth of July tradition in Lawrence County.

“Old men would dig pits and would stay all night doing the cooking,” he reminisced. “The barbecue was something we all looked forward to.”
In the early 1970s, Vance and his cousin, the late Danny Scott, began experimenting with barbecuing.

“By trial and error, we started cooking,” he said with a smile. “We were definitely self taught.”

The cousins covered their first homemade pit with a waterproof canvas tarp, then went to bed for the night. They woke to flashes of light and a pit engulfed in flames. Experience is the best teacher, so the two began experimenting with different kinds of pits, Vance said.

In the mid-1970s, Scott died in a car accident, and Vance “got out of barbecuing” for a while. Vance still uses some of Scott’s recipes, however, which are among his top-secret concoctions.

“It was probably two or three years after Danny’s death before I really wanted to cook again,” he said.

A wild game supper here, a church cookout there, and Vance began to get the itch again. He cooked for events such as St. Bernards’ employee picnics, St. Bernards Triple Swing benefit and Paragould Children’s Home’s annual benefit golf tournament. Word was out that he was the man to call for mouth-watering barbecue.

“I’ve always liked to cook for groups — shrimp boils, fish fries, barbecue. I cook better for a group than for two or three.

“We cook everything from chicken, pork steaks, brisket, pork shoulder, pork butts, ribs, prime ribs. We cook whatever anybody wants. And I’m a big experimenter. I’ll go somewhere and eat something, then try to find a recipe like it, and add some things and take away to my taste. One year for Triple Swing I put together a jerk powder and sprayed the meat down with fruit juice while it was cooking. Everyone really enjoyed that.”

When Vance uses the word “we,” he is referring to several regular volunteers who work as his assistants. Eric Watson, Pierce “Bubba” Barnett and Ben “Bennie Wayne” Overman.

According to Watson, Vance shares plenty of cooking tips, but not his secret recipes.

“Everything I know about cooking, I’ve learned from him,” Watson said. “Especially ‘Don’t get distracted or you’ll burn the meat up.’”
Vance summed up his philosophy: “You have to slow down, pay attention. You don’t have to work yourself doing it, but at the same time you have to pay attention.”

For the entities he helps, Vance’s cooking is a blessing.

“We are so proud that Gene takes time in his schedule to help us with this,” said Micah Brinkley, executive director of Arkansas Children’s Home in Paragould. “We are a non-profit. Any time someone will come out and help, it is important. Gene is always so willing to do it. Our golfers look forward to the meal more than the golf when Gene is cooking.”