Debra Sue Specht, 48, of Vashti died July 24 from renal cancer. Specht wrote the syndicated column “Visiting in Vashti” that was published in the Clay County Leader, the Bowie News and The Shopper.
Specht began by assisting Frieda Duke in writing “Visiting in Vashti.” She took responsibility for writing the column after Duke’s death. Specht also took part in the rewriting of the Vashti History Book, published in 2003.
Specht was born in Dallas. She studied dance and theater at the Arts Magnet School at Booker T. Washington in Dallas. She later attended Junior College at Brookhaven in Farmers Branch. Specht received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga.
Joe Brown, 79, died July 4 after a brief illness. Brown began his journalism career as a linotype operator at the Lorenzo Tribune while still in high school.
He became editor and publisher of the Tribune in the mid-1950s and continued in that capacity until he joined the editorial staff of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. At his retirement he was serving as the city editor of the evening edition.
Brown was born in Mineral Wells. He was a graduate of Lorenzo High School and attended Texas Tech University, where he later spent two years teaching journalism.
Van Hilburn Jr., 46, died July 28 at the Medical City Hospital in Paris where he had undergone several spinal surgeries starting in early July. Hilburn was a longtime sports editor for The Paris News.
Hilburn was the valedictorian of his graduating class in 1982 at West Lamar High School in Petty. In 1985, he graduated summa cum laude from Wiley College in Marshall. The journalist worked at the Marshall News Messenger before joining The Paris News staff in 1993.
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