Texas Newspaper Oral History

Alvin Holley, publisher of the Polk County Enterprise and incoming president of Texas Press Association (summer 2000), was inducted into the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2008.
Holley believes he received his best education 50 years ago when he sold newspapers on the streets of Corsicana. That’s where he began his newspaper career in 1950 at [...]

Frank K. Baker, 107th president, was a second-generation newspaperman and the second member of his family to serve as Texas Press Association president. His father, George Baker, served from 1962-63.
Born in San Angelo on May 12, 1934, Baker’s parents were in the transition from Sonora to Fort Stockton at the time. His father had published [...]

Ken Towery was born in Smithville, Miss. south of Tupelo. His family moved to Texas when he was one. He was in the military and attended Texas A&M, but he contracted tuberculosis and was forced to find work.
He became a reporter and eventually managing editor for The Cuero Daily Record as well as the city’s [...]

Larry Jackson is the new editor and publisher of the Fayette County Record. For the past 15 years Jackson has been editor and general manager of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and vice president of River Publishers, which owns the Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. Jackson was president of Texas Press Association in 1999-2000 and is the [...]

Lynn Brisendine, publisher of The Brownfield News and Seminole Sentinel, recently celebrated 50 years in the newspaper business.
Brisendine, 60, is a past president of Texas Press Association (2000-01), West Texas Press Association (1985) and Panhandle Press Association (1979).
Born in Amarillo, he grew up in Hereford, graduating from Hereford High School in 1965. He was a [...]

Mac McKinnon is the publisher and editor of The Dublin Citizen in Dublin, Texas. After a year of college, he joined the military. After a brief stint overseas, he joined the Army’s information department writing military history.
Upon returning to civilian life, he enrolled at TCU and went to work for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram writing [...]

Martha Ann Walls, CEO of Southern Newspapers, Inc.

Mary Henkel Judson was the first woman elected president of Texas Press Association, the 113th person to lead the 110-year-old association.
She was the daughter of Cap and Kitty Henkel and a “newspaper brat.” Her parents were publishers of the Mid-County Review in Nederland when Judson was born in 1953.
Her first paying job was as a [...]

Roy J. Eaton, 110th president, bought the Wise County Messenger in 1973.
In January 2009, Roy and Jeannine Eaton sold the Messenger to Phil and Lesa Major.
Eaton was state chairman for the National Newspaper Association when he was elected Texas Press Association president.
He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame [...]

Sarah Greene was born in Gilmer, Texas on January 11, 1929. Her grandfather bought the local paper in 1915 and her parents ran it. She began selling subscriptions to the paper at the age of 8 and worked around the office, including running election returns from the courthouse.
She attended Stevens College in Columbia, Mo. After [...]