Albert Rogers Yarnell (1923–2018)

Albert Rogers Yarnell was the longtime president of Yarnell’s Ice Cream Company, headquartered in Searcy (White County). During his time leading the company, Yarnell’s became a major regional ice cream brand that innovated new products and developed relationships with numerous national companies.

Albert Yarnell was born on October 25, 1923, in Searcy. He was the only child of Ray and Hallie Yarnell. He grew up in Searcy and graduated from Searcy High School in 1941. Afterward, he attended Kemper Military Academy in Columbia, Missouri. Attending this junior college allowed qualified students to earn a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While serving in the military during World War II, he decoded top-secret messages in China. After his service, he earned a dairy science degree at the University of Missouri in 1948, where he joined Kappa Alpha Fraternity.

Yarnell’s father purchased a bankrupt dairy during the Great Depression around 1932. That dairy was used to start Yarnell Ice Cream Company. He started learning from his father while working in the business before he was a teenager. While trucks had routes for making deliveries during the 1930s, Yarnell delivered ice cream on a bicycle.

Yarnell graduated from college and joined the family ice cream company in 1948. By 1951, Yarnell was managing the company’s first major plant expansion. In 1960, he was named general manager. He became president in 1974 after his father’s death.

Yarnell married Doris Hoofman, and they had two sons and two daughters.

In 1985, he became chairman of the company, serving until 2011. At that time, his son, Rogers, was serving as president/CEO, and the fourth Yarnell generation, Christina Yarnell, was serving as custom brand manager.

Yarnell is credited with creating the nation’s first all-natural ice milk in 1978. Under Yarnell’s leadership, the company developed business relationships with Nestlé, Dreyer’s, and Häagen-Dazs. Yarnell is also credited with leading the team that invented the first non-fat, no-sugar-added ice cream in the nation in 1990.

Yarnell received numerous honors and accolades. In 2008, he was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. In 2009, he was one of Arkansas Business’s “25 Living Legends” in the publication’s twenty-fifth anniversary issue. He was named Scottish Rite Citizen of the Year in 1996. After serving as the president of the Arkansas Dairy Products Association, he was named to its Hall of Fame. Under his leadership, Yarnell’s became one of the most successful regional ice cream companies in the United States.

Yarnell served on the board of the International Ice Cream Association for eighteen years. According to Arkansas Business, he also served as mayor of Searcy and as chairman of the Baptist Medical System Board of Directors in 2000 (having been a member of the board for more than forty years). Starting in 1970, Yarnell was an active member of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, and he also served as president of the Searcy Chamber of Commerce. In 1978, Yarnell and Zeke Chronister were the founders of the White County United Way. For more than thirty-two years, Yarnell served as treasurer of the First Baptist Church in Searcy. He also served as president of the Searcy Lions Club.

Almost eighty years after Ray Yarnell purchased a bankrupt dairy to start Yarnell’s Ice Cream Company, it closed in 2011 and declared bankruptcy. In 2011, Schulze and Burch Biscuit Company of Chicago, Illinois, purchased the assets of the company and relaunched the brand the following year. Yarnell served as an advisor to the new owners. In June 2020, Schulze and Burch sold the production facility in Searcy to Turkey Hill Dairy of Pennsylvania but retained ownership of the Yarnell’s brand.

Yarnell died on January 7, 2018, and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Searcy.

For additional information:
“Ice Cream Innovator Albert Yarnell Has Died.” Talk Business & Politics, January 9, 2018. https://talkbusiness.net/2018/01/ice-cream-innovator-albert-yarnell-has-died/ (accessed September 5, 2024).

Obituary of Albert Rogers Yarnell. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 9, 2018. https://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2018/jan/09/albert-yarnell-2018-01-09 (accessed September 5, 2024).

Sandlin, Jake. “Arkansas Man Who Spent More Than 75 Years with Family’s Ice Cream Business Dies.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 9, 2018. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/jan/09/oversaw-familys-ice-cream-business/ (accessed September 5, 2024).

“State’s King of Ice Cream, Albert Yarnell, Dies at 94.” Arkansas Business, January 15, 2018.

Jackie C. Thornton
Little Rock, Arkansas