Thomas Archimedes "Archie" Monroe Jr. was born on November 23, 1909, in Magnolia, Columbia County, Arkansas. He served in the US Air Force during World War II.
Monroe received an A.A. degree from Magnolia A&M and graduated from the University of Arkansas with a B.S. in business administration. His banking career started in Little Rock with Bankers Trust Company, but he returned to Magnolia to help his dad rebuild the Magnolia Insurance Agency. Additionally, he managed the local Western Union.
He has been a member of the Magnolia Rotary Club. He served in numerous positions, including the Arkansas Insurance Commissioner, president of the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce, and the Magnolia Municipal Water System Commissioner. Monroe was named the Magnolia Citizen of the Year in 2000.
Monroe passed away on February 3, 2015.
#1: Composite image of early photo of Archie Monroe and still frame from Pryor Center video interview
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Back of previous image of Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe, image 1 of 3
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Back of previous image of Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe, image 2 of 3
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#5: Back of previous image of Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe, image 3 of 3
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#6: Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe
© Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe
#7: Back of previous image of Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#8: Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#9: Newspaper clipping from the Columbia Banner about Thomas Cooper Monroe, grandfather of Archie Monroe, April 6, 1882
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#10: Carrie Mitchell, maternal grandmother of Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#11: Couch family reunion in McNeil, Arkansas, August 21, 1913
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#12: Thomas Archimedes Monroe and Alice Couch (Monroe), parents of Archie Monroe, courting
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#13: Archie Monroe and his mother, Alice Couch Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#14: Archie Monroe, 4 months old
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#15: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#16: Archie Monroe with his father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#17: Alice Couch Monroe with her sons, Archie and Sanford Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#18: Alice Couch Monroe with her sons, Sanford and Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#19: Archie and Sanford Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#20: Childhood home of Archie Monroe in Magnolia, Arkansas
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#21: Archie Monroe (right) with his brother, Sanford, 1917
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#22: Archie Monroe (right) with his father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe; brother, Sanford Monroe; and mother, Alice Couch Monroe, at Bethel College in Russellville, Kentucky, on their way to New York, 1923
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#23: Thomas Archimedes Monroe, father of Archie Monroe, 1923
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#24: Alice Couch Monroe, mother of Archie Monroe, 1923
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#25: Monroe family photo: Alice Couch Monroe, Sanford Monroe, Thomas Archimedes Monroe, and Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 1923
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#26: Archie Monroe (3rd from left) with his brother, Sanford Monroe; father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe; and cousin, Wade Willis, in a Kentucky tobacco field
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#27: Archie Monroe with his mother, Alice Couch Monroe; brother, Sanford Monroe; and father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe, on vacation
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#28: Archie Monroe (right) with his cousin, Wade Willis; mother, Alice Couch Monroe; and brother, Sanford Monroe, in a Kentucky tobacco field
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#29: Archie Monroe (right) with his father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe; mother, Alice Couch Monroe; and brother, Sanford Monroe, riding a ferry
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#30: Archie Monroe with his mother, Alice Couch Monroe; brother, Sanford Monroe; and cousin, Wade Willis, on vacation in New York, 1923
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#31: Archie Monroe (back row, 2nd from left) and his cousins
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#32: Archie Monroe (right) with his brother, Sanford Monroe, and father, Thomas Archimedes Monroe, at their family home
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#33: Graduation portrait of Archie Monroe from the University of Arkansas, 1931
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#34: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#35: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#36: The Magnolia Insurance Agency, where Archie Monroe worked, ca. 1940s
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#37: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#38: Four generations: Archie Monroe (in US Air Force uniform); his grandmother, Lucy Kelso Couch; his son, Ark Monroe; and his mother, Alice Couch Monroe, in his grandmother's home
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#39: Ark Monroe, son of Archie Monroe, ca. 1944
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#40: Archie Monroe with his wife, Elena, and their children
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#41: Archie Monroe and his mother, Alice Couch Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#42: Alice Couch Monroe, mother of Archie Monroe, outside of house on N. Jackson St.; Magnolia, Arkansas, ca. 1950s
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#43: Archie Monroe with a plow
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#44: Elena and Archie Monroe with their children
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#45: Archie Monroe family portrait
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#46: Alice Couch Monroe, mother of Archie Monroe, at her 90th birthday party, presented as the program "This is Your Life" by her church
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#47: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#48: Elena and Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#49: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#50: Archie Monroe
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#51: Elena Monroe, wife of Archie Monroe, ca. 2000
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#52: Archie Monroe at his 80th birthday party at his home in Magnolia, Arkansas
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#53: Archie Monroe and his family with Bill Clinton and Al Gore at his son Ark Monroe's home in Little Rock, 1999
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#54: Archie Monroe and his wife, Elena Monroe, in the late 1990s
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#55: Archie Monroe (right) with Gore Kemp, cousin of Elena Monroe, and Ark Monroe (center), ca. 2001
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#56: Archie Monroe with his daughter, Sarah Jones, and his daughter-in-law, Nancy Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2005
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#57: Archie Monroe with his cousins, Catherine Remmel and Anita Reasoner
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#58: Archie Monroe and his great-grandson, Thomas Prebe, 2006
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#59: Relatives of Archie Monroe: granddaughter, Sarah Prebe, with her husband, Jeff; grandson, Chris Monroe, with his wife, Stephanie, and their son, Thomas Cooper Monroe; and grandson, John Monroe, with his wife, Leslie, and their son, William
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#60: Archie Monroe with his grandson, John, and great-grandson, William, 2006
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#61: Archie Monroe with his grandchildren
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#62: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#63: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#64: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#65: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#66: Behind-the-scenes photo from Pryor Center interview with Archie Monroe; Magnolia, Arkansas, 2008
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
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© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
