Richard Broadaway Jr.

Richard Scroggin Broadaway, Jr:  brother, father, uncle, granddad, inventor, innovator, craftsman and outdoorsman, passed away peacefully on May 15, 2019.

Dicky was born September 15th, 1951 in Crossett, Arkansas to Richard S. Broadaway, Sr. and Jo Ann Rawls Broadaway.

Dicky is survived by his three sisters L. Ann Broadaway, Jo Lynn Patterson, and Carol Elliott, brothers Steven R. Broadaway and Christopher L Broadaway, daughter Stacy Rachel Gartman, and three grandsons Braiden Justice Broadaway, Dylan Jackson Broadaway and Jase Braxton Gartman and several nieces and nephews. Dicky is preceded in death by his father Richard Sr and mother Jo Ann Rawls Broadaway.

As a child, Dicky grew up in North Little Rock and Jacksonville, Arkansas. He loved riding horses and exploring the outdoors for all creatures large and small. We have fond memories of his many escapades, in particular, his project of raising white mice, which escaped and began mingling with the local species and soon began producing adorable calico colored mice.

Dicky’s family moved to Spain in 1963 due to his dad’s job as a civilian with the Air Force. During his time there, Dicky learned to speak Spanish fluently, blending in with the locals because of his dark hair and olive complexion.  He enjoyed all aspects of life in Spain and was popular with everyone he met.

From Spain, the family moved to Haughton, Louisiana, where Dicky attended junior high and high school at Haughton High School. It was during this time that Dicky began his project of raising quail.  Illustrating his unique ability to come up with innovative ideas, he invented a system to elevate and rotate the incubators, achieving hatch rates of over 90%, absolutely unheard of at that time and even today. He also built the quail pens at a precise angle so that the quail could walk comfortably and the eggs would roll into a trough -- dramatically speeding up the egg gathering process. The number of unique ideas and concepts he came up with were unlimited.

He was a self-taught amateur veterinarian, excellent singer, hunter, fisherman, loaded his own shotgun shells, and painted a friend’s vehicle with his own special “glitter” paint recipe. He thoroughly enjoyed boating and fishing on Lake Bistineau. His favorite times were when he ran our 16 ft ski boat, Playboy, at top speed while pulling his siblings on truck innertubes, doing everything he could to toss us off on a turn into the cypress knees and water moccasin beds.

Dicky was an experienced horseman, competing in a variety of different events and just riding for pleasure.  He was extremely strong and driven – he excelled at the buddy barrel pickup because no matter what – he hung on to his rider.  You knew you could count on him. His outstanding horsemanship helped immensely when his dad decided to raise cattle randomly purchased at an auction. Dicky also rode bulls in the rodeo and on several occasions performed the job of rodeo clown, getting pummeled and stomped by rodeo bulls on a few occasions.

Dicky graduated from Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana in 1969 where he played football for the Buccaneers.

Due to his vast interest in a great number of activities, Dicky held a number of different jobs. He took care of Sam Craig’s farms in Benton and Bossier, served in the Air Force Reserves, worked for Georgia-Pacific in the Maintenance department, did Fiberglass work on boats, painter, was a police officer in Crossett, AR, was the owner/operator of the Broadway Bar in Haughton, LA and held engineering, maintenance and management roles for Halstead Copper Tubing and Mueller, Inc.

Dicky was married to Kathy Hilburn for 23 years and had one daughter Stacy who gave them with 3 grandchildren who he loved immensely.

In his latter years he described his self-employment as: “I do or make whatever comes to mind. I have an extensive collection of tools, saws, welding equipment, nail guns, air compressor, air tools, rock saws, a diamond blade band saw, I beat rocks and make arrow heads, etc.” His intro on his Facebook account stated: “Neither a leader nor follower be I just want to be me”.

He spent countless hours with his eldest grandson Braiden, who he taught several skills, one of which was how to capture live snakes. He and Braiden collected countless snakes which they kept in a cage under Dicky’s carport. He truly loved Braiden’s company and Braiden was a great comfort and companion to him for many years. In the final years of Dicky’s mother’s life, he and Braiden would visit her at the nursing home in Arcadia Louisiana, and nothing would brighten her day more than a visit with Dicky and Braiden. She had a special place in her heart for her oldest child as well as all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Although Dicky was baptized as a youth, he was not a regular church goer. In his final years he professed his belief in Jesus Christ. He posted the below passage on his Facebook Account:

“I believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible says, if you deny you Me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of my Father. This is a simple test. If you love Jesus and you are not afraid to show it, … God is always there no matter how bad your troubles are here on earth.” Dicky recently commented that he felt he had made things right between him and the Lord.

Dicky was always looking forward to his “Next Great Adventure”. We truly believe his Next Great Adventure will be with Jesus Christ and all his family and loved ones in Heaven.

Following Dicky’s wishes, he will be interred alongside his mother and father, in Biscoe Cemetery in Biscoe, Arkansas.  The family will hold a private ceremony in his honor.

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Richard Scroggin Broadaway Jr., please visit our Tree Store.