Fay Boozman

Political offices

At the time of his death at the age of fifty-eight as a result of a freak accident, Boozman, an ophthalmologist, was the director of the Arkansas Health Department. He had first become involved in politics while working on Huckabee's 1993 special election campaign for lieutenant governor. As health department director, Boozman was the front man for Huckabee's Healthy Arkansas initiatives and earned national attention for his commitment to reducing obesity.

From 1995 to 1998, Boozman was a member of the Arkansas State Senate from Rogers in Benton County. He succeeded the Democrat Reid Holliman, a supporter of former U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers and U.S. President Bill Clinton. In 1998, rather than running for a second term for the state Senate, Boozman was the unsuccessful Republican nominee against Democrat Blanche Lincoln. Lincoln received 385,878 votes (55.1 percent) to Boozman's 295,870 (42.2 percent). In 2010, Boozman's brother, John, unseated Lincoln for the same Senate seat that Fay Boozman had sought twelve years earlier.

During the campaign against Lincoln, Boozman came under criticism when he claimed that victims of rape were rarely impregnated as a result of the crime due to hormonal protection that results from a "true" rape. He later apologized for the statement, saying that it was "not statistically based." Boozman, who was strongly pro-life, saw his role as director of the health department as that of a "Christian" and a "servant." Those who worked with him found him "caring, sensitive, a family man [with] a servant's heart, nice, compassionate, principled, and moral." Dr. Boozman was also a former medical advisor to a crisis pregnancy center.

A Republican, Dave Bisbee, was elected to succeed Boozman. The seat was held until 2013 by Kim Hendren, another Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate nomination and a brother-in-law of former U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson and former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson who currently serves as Governor of Arkansas.

Previous injury

After an automobile accident in 1996, Boozman suffered serious injuries, including a bruised heart, broken ribs, kidney problems, a collapsed lung, and a broken hip that left him using a walker. He was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Timothy Hutchinson, later a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and a son of then-Congressman Tim Hutchinson. Timothy Hutchinson's twin brother, Jeremy Hutchinson, and their mother, Donna Hutchinson, who is divorced from Tim Hutchinson, have also served in the Arkansas House.

Asa Hutchinson, a former U.S. representative, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2006, the state's current governor, and an uncle of Timothy Hutchinson, said that Dr. Boozman rendered aid to the victims of the accident despite his serious injuries. "I've never known a more tender-hearted human being. His life was an encouragement to everyone who came in contact with him every day, and losing him is just devastating," said Asa Hutchinson.

Death

Boozman died near Rogers, Arkansas, when a barn in which he had been engaged in farm chores collapsed. In addition to his brother, he was survived by his wife, Josephine Victoria "Vicky" Boozman (born 1946), their three children, and his mother, the former Marie Nichols, who lives in Fort Smith in Sebastian County, where John Boozman was born and both brothers were reared. His father was Fay Winford Boozman, Jr. (1923–1991), whose last residence was in Rogers.

Governor Huckabee released this statement on Boozman's death: "[He] was not only one of my most trusted team members, but he was a close personal friend and Christian brother. One of my happiest days as governor was when he became director of the Department of Health. His death will mark the very saddest day. . . . . Many of us lose a dear personal friend, but our entire state loses one of our finest ever and most pure-hearted public servants who loved others more than self and was incapable of anything other than statesmanship and kindness."

Bob Alvey, a health department spokesman, referred to the "tragic loss" of Dr. Boozman's death: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who knew him and knew how great a person he was." Rogers Mayor Steve Womack, a Boozman family friend and John Boozman's U.S. House successor, told The Rogers Morning News that Boozman was moving from his Rogers residence to another home, also in Rogers. Emergency personnel responded to the farm and found that Boozman had been crushed by a large gate.

Legacy

The Arkansas Physicians Resource Council offers the annual Fay Boozman Award to physicians who practice their Christian faith in family practice and community affairs. The College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock was renamed in Boozman's honor. Boozman was a UAMS alumnus.

Vickie Boozman, now residing in Cave Springs in Benton County, was an Arkansas alternate delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Earlier in 2008, she lost a primary bid for the District 99 in the Arkansas House to fellow Republican Tim Summers of Bentonville. In 2010, she was a surrogate speaker for her brother-in-law, John Boozman, in his U.S. Senate campaign.