Pulaski County ArArchives Biographies.....Oliphint, Gardner K. 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 June 19, 2009, 10:17 am

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

GARDNER K. OLIPH1NT.
    When old age comes upon an individual, family and friends feel that the end
is near and that it is hut natural to pass from this life to eternity, but when
death comes in young manhood or middle age it always carries with it a sense of
the deepest regret and bereavement to the close associates of the one who has
died. Gardner K. Oliphint was but thirty-three years of age when the final
summons came to him. It is doubtful if there are many men who have crowded so
much into a short lifetime. His entire career was one of intense activity and it
was the keen mental labor of his early years that undoubtedly hastened the end.

    Mr. Oliphint was born in Little Rock, October 13, 1888, and attended the
grammar schools in his boyhood days and also assisted in his father's law
offices. He early began using a typewriter—in fact he was a child prodigy in
this respect. When but four and a half years of age he was taken throughout the
state by a traveling man, a friend of the family, and the little lad would
demonstrate in store windows how easy it was to use an old L. C. Smith
typewriter. When but seven years of age he was taking depositions direct on the
machine. By the time he was twelve he had become an expert stenographer and at
thirteen years of age he was private stenographer for one of the officials of
the Rock Island Railroad. At seventeen he had full charge of the wholesale
liquor establishment of the Sandefur-Julian Liquor Company and when a youth of
but nineteen he had become a court reporter on the first circuit of Arkansas.
Throughout his remaining days Mr. Oliphint continued to act as court reporter.
He had won a medal for being the most rapid typist in the state when but twelve
years of age and his skill in stenography and typewriting was of great value to
him in his reportorial work. He remained for a time in his father's office as
stenographer, studying law until he was admitted to the bar in 1913. The same
year he was admitted to the bar at Little Rock and continued to engage in
practice to the time of his demise. In 1917 he was appointed by Chancellor John
E. Martineau as official court reporter for the district embracing Pulaski,
Lonoke and White counties, and Judge Martineau granted him permission to
practice law in addition to the performance of his other duties. Mr. Oliphint
was a memher of the firm of Oliphint & Powell, court reporters. After engaging
in this line of business alone for a number of years his business had grown to
such an extent that he could not handle it alone and he therefore entered into
partnership relations with Mr. Powell of St. Louis. He was engaged in the
performance of his duties as court reporter when death overtook him. He started
to drive his motor car from Little Rock to Pine Bluff, there to engage in court
reporting work, but as he and his wife neared Wrightsville he became ill and
Mrs. Oliphint returned with him to their home, death occurring a little later.

    It was on the 10th of March, 1917, that Mr. Oliphint was married to Miss
Helen Nothwang of Little Rock, a daughter of William and Alice Nothwang, the
former a native of Germany and the latter of Illinois. Heavy had been the
business responsibilities that had devolved upon Mr. Oliphant from his
childhood, due to the notable aptitude and capability which he had displayed in
early youth. He was a phenomenon in his work—perhaps unequaled by any other in
the United States—through the period of his minority. His business and
professional activities had brought him a wide acquaintance and he was greatly
esteemed by all who knew him because of the many admirable traits of character
which were his. He left behind him many friends and his memory will be cherished
for years to come.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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