Roy Dudley

Our Gallant Leader

Roy Dudley is our gallant leader. His entire life has been spent preparing for his current business. As a small boy he trailed around antique shops and auctions with his parents and other family members. Unlike many children dragged around flea markets and sales, he actually liked it and his passion for antiques only grew as he got older.

A native of Northwest Arkansas, Roy attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville .His first career was with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and it was their executive training program that brought him to Little Rock in the late 1980s. While rising in the corporate world, he sold antiques on the weekends both privately and through an assortment of mall booths.

In 2000, his part-time passion became a full-time business. Roy opened his own antique shop and began to conduct occasional estate sales on the side. As the years passed, the estate sales became larger, finer and more all-encompassing. In 2005, amid customers' cries and wails, Roy closed his antique shop and devoted his time fully to conducting estate sales.

When Roy held his first estate sale, his staff consisted of his two closest friends and him. Those friends are still at work during each sale, but they have been joined by five additional full-time workers, and more than a dozen part-timers who staff the sales.

Roy’s employees are as dedicated to him as he is to his business.  He was overheard recently saying, “If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still come in to work---I just love what I do.”

Melissa Guldin

Business Manager

A life-long antique collector, Melissa met Roy Dudley nearly 20 years ago when she purchased a vintage bowl from him. To paraphrase Casablanca, it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Melissa has both a bachelors and a masters degree in early childhood education and worked as a teacher and school administrator. She also spent several years as a monitor for the federal courts, which may explain her love of order and rules.

After Melissa left her career in education, she began working part-time in the antique shop owned by Roy. Her involvement in the business evolved from shop-keeping one or two days a week to full-time business manager.

Melissa is one of the three certified personal property appraisers working with us and she prepares all the written appraisals. If you call us, she will return your call. If you consign items with us, she will pay you, and she handles other financial aspects of the business as well. Her work is largely behind the scenes, but occasionally, like a rare bird, she can be spotted at the public sales.

Kate Askew

Certified Appraiser, Licensed Auctioneer, Letterpress Printer and Published Author

Kate Askew was born with a book in her hand and a rhyme on her lips, and came to age in a bookish household that valued the written and spoken word above all else. Surrounded by books, art, poetry, and interesting parents (who positively adored her), Kate was 16 before she heard someone describe her as a nerd; it took her a bit longer to realize it was not something everyone aspired to be.

As an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, Kate discovered that there was more to life than the dusty tomes in the rare books stacks; nevertheless, she spent an inordinate amount of time there while obtaining her degree in English Literature.

After learning the fine points of researching, buying, and selling over-the-counter and listed stocks as a licensed securities trader, Kate began to apply those skills to the rare books business. Eight years ago, she met Roy Dudley on a book-buying binge at one of his fine estate sales, and began organizing his books, art and ephemera soon thereafter. If you want to talk about books, buy books, or sell books at a Roy Dudley sale, then Kate is the one to see.

Kate is a certified appraiser, licensed auctioneer, letterpress printer, and published author. She has one husband (the absolute love of her life, Jess Askew, III), two grown children, three cats, four dogs, and 10,000 books. Her parents still adore her.

Matt Johnson

Sale Day Staff

Matt Johnson works for RDES as a sale day staff member. His duties include finding out a price for you, helping you find that thing you’re looking for that you saw here yesterday, and asking Jon and Justin to move something heavy for you.

Matt was born and raised in Arkansas, where he currently resides with his wife (and fellow staff member) Catherine, and several cats.

He is a founding member of the musical groups MFT, Mondo Banal, Reagan's Polyp, Mannheim Flamethrower, Little Seizures, The Mobius Parabola, Clif Lassman, Lieberwursten, Chamber O'Funk, T.C. and the Eddies, Zappa's Residue, Acufuncture, The Darrell Smith Trio, The Darrell Smith Quartet, The New Darrell Smith Trio, The Original Darrell Smith Trio Plus One, Norma Jean Dahmer, The Zig Men, Klaxxxxxon, MC Squared, and The Krel Group.

Jon Allen

Moving Director

Jon began his career as a professional mover, while still in his teens. He has been a fixture on the Little Rock moving scene for a number of years. Prior to coming to Roy Dudley Estate Sales, he worked for a local mover, and even headed his own moving business for a time. Local designers and antique dealers have long relied on his expertise to safely transport their treasures.

When Jon was still working for the outside moving company, Roy nicknamed him “Speedy” because he had so much energy and could pack and move items so quickly. We could just as easily have named him “Happy” because his constant good humor and willingness to tackle any job inspires all of his co-workers.

Jon works with Justin Henderson to pack and move any and all estates scheduled for transport to our estate sale center at The Tanglewood Shopping Center. He is present at all our public sales, and he also operates his own independent delivery service.

With the killer combination of good looks and great personality, Jon is very popular with all our clients. But take notice, he is a married father of four and at Roy Dudley Estate Sales we take a very dim view of sexual harassment.

Justin Henderson

Assistant Moving Director

Justin is the youngest of our full-time employees, but don’t let his baby face fool you. He is hard-working and assumes a great deal of responsibility. He has been with the company for several years and works full-time during the week on sale preparation and on the weekends at our public sales. At the public sales, he often serves as cashier or wrapper at check out.

Justin has many skills, but one of his particular talents is his ability to identify Waterford crystal (much like a truffle-sniffing pig). He is our on-site Waterford detective.

Along with Jon Allen, Justin operates an after-hours delivery service used by many of customers for their bulky purchases.

While Justin is always working hard, if you should happen by one of our sales during a Razorback football game, you may find him a little distracted. He is certainly one of the biggest Hog fans around.

Jon "Paco" Estelita

Visual Merchandising and Display

Jon was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended St. Mary's College of California and earned a BA in communications and a BFA in Fine Art and Art History. His professional career included executive positions with such companies as Macy's, Z Gallerie, Smith and Hawken and Fillamento.

In 2009, Jon moved to Little Rock to join the Roy Dudley Estate Sales team. He brings with him a fresh creative eye, and a new vision for enhancing the shopping experience for our devoted customers. In his free time, Jon enjoys painting in his home studio, and playing with his two dogs, Lucy and Mario. Jon is fluent in Spanish and is always happy to assist our Spanish speaking clientele.