Gary Stubblefield: A Good Man, A Faithful Servant
My friend, Senator Gary Stubblefield, passed from this life into Heaven on September 2. When I heard the sad news, my thoughts raced back to 2011—the first day I met Gary. He was serving his first term in the Arkansas House. When I extended my hand to introduce myself, his enthusiasm caught me off guard, but his fearless nature impressed me even more.
At that time, with the House Public Health Committee killing every pro-life bill, I mentioned how difficult it had been to find sponsors for pro-life legislation. Tilting his head slightly and giving me that unforgettable smile, he said, “You get me a bill, and I’ll sponsor it.” We helped him draft a commonsense bill affirming the right of a woman to use deadly force to defend her unborn child against an attack. As expected, the committee defeated the bill along with nine out of ten others that session. But Gary came out of that defeat ready to take on the entire liberal world—and he did, and he won.
During his fourteen-year legislative career, he never once turned us down when we asked him to sponsor a bill. He championed the good causes: ending abortion, protecting religious freedom, defunding Planned Parenthood, fighting filth in our libraries, defending parental rights, standing for the Second Amendment, protecting women’s sports, and opposing sex changes on children. We have an entire wall of framed copies of good laws we’ve worked on—and Gary Stubblefield’s name is on many of them, either as a lead sponsor or co-sponsor.
Passing laws is important, but living as a truly good man is far greater. Gary never set out to be great, but he was. He never sought to be a hero, yet he became one. He never asked to be remembered, but he will be—both in our hearts and in God’s everlasting Kingdom. I only wish I could say to him today what I believe he has already heard from the Lord Himself: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
