John W. Carroll

John W. Carroll, 57, died July 10, 2004 of cancer at the Veterans Administration hospital in Shreveport, La.

He was managing editor at the Kilgore News Herald and had worked at newspapers in Abilene, Temple and Gonzales.

He was a U.S. Marine, veteran of the Vietnam War and earned a Purple Heart as a result of combat injuries.

Horace Fontenot

Horace Fontenot, died June 28, 2004. He was the former director of advertising at the Port Arthur News and served for 46 years from 1959 to 1997.

Jack Keever

Jack Keever, 66, died July 19, 2004.

He covered three decades of Texas history for The Associated Press, including Charles Whitman’s deadly shootings from the University of Texas Tower in 1966.

Keever began his journalism career as managing editor of UT’s The Daily Texan in 1959.

Keever joined the AP Dallas office in 1961 before being transferred to the Austin bureau.

He retired from AP in 1992 and then taught journalism at Austin Community College until 2000.

Bert Kruger Smith

Bert Kruger Smith, died July 26, 2004. She and husband Sid Smith spent 15 months in Coleman where they published and edited the local newspaper, the Daily Coleman Democrat Voice.

After returning to Austin, Bert joined the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, where she served as a writer and program officer for almost 50 years, retiring part time at age 72.