NOTABLE ARKANSANS

He was born in Lewisville in 1911, the son of a railroad engineer. After graduating high school, he received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 1934, and a master’s from Northwestern University in 1935. One month after the Pearl Harbor attack, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and served as press officer for generals Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton and, for 15 months, wrote Patton’s daily action reports.

For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star and French Croix de Guerre, and discharged as a lieutenant colonel in 1946. He returned to Germany as a civilian in 1946, as an Army press officer during the International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg, serving as liaison between the military and the International Press Corps. Following his distinguished military service, he became editor and part-owner of a small newspaper in Mexia, Texas.

In 1956, he joined the Arkansas Gazette as editorial page editor, while writing a column, “The Arkansas Traveler.” He left the Gazette in the late 1960s and moved to Fayetteville, to work in the University of Arkansas’ Office of Information Services and, from 1968 to 1976, he was an associate professor in the university’s journalism department. In 1970, while at the university, he began writing a column in The Springdale News (later The Morning News) called “Ozarks Country,” which became syndicated in 17 newspapers. He published several books, some of which were compilations of his newspaper columns. The Arkansas Press Association honored him with their Outstanding Journalism Teacher Award in 1990. He continued writing until shortly before his death in 1991.

An eponymously named award is sporadically given to a journalist or writer whose work “best exemplifies the spirit, style, and courage” of this man, and an annual scholarship, in his memory, is awarded to a UA journalism student.

Who was this fascinating Arkansas journalist, who would say to his students, “Every day, in this [journalism] business, you have the opportunity to pass along useful information”?

Who was this fascinating Arkansas journalist, who would say to his students, “Every day, in this [journalism] business, you have the opportunity to pass along useful information”?