Obituaries

Robert Barney

Robert Owen “Bob” Barney, died Jan. 26, 2003.

He worked for several Texas newspapers including The Austin Daily Tribune and Temple Daily Telegram and contributed article and technical manuals to several publications.

Crystal Daniel

Crystal Humphress Daniel, 41, died Feb. 13, 2003 of an apparent heart attack.

She started as editorial assistant with The Dallas Morning News in 1990 and later managed the Texas and Southwest desks until 1996 when she left to pursue a free-lance career.

Melisa Harris

Melisa Ann Harris, 43, died Jan. 23, 2003, at North Central Baptist Hospital in San Antonio.

She was production manager for her family-owned Johnson City Record Courier for 10 years and worked for newspapers in Killeen, Levelland and Floydada.

William Jamar

William “Bill” Wallace Jamar, 78, died Jan. 11, 2002 following a short illness.

He worked 25 years for radio station KBWD in Brownwood and owned and operated 22 radio stations around the state. He also owned the Mineral Wells Index and Palo Pinto Star, as well as cable TV stations in Snyder, Corsicana, Stamford and Munday.

He served on the board of the Texas Association of Broadcasters and the board of regents of North Texas State University.

Peggy Killion

Peggy Sue Killion, 46, died Jan. 4, 2003.

She worked 15 years from 1987-2002 in circulation for the San Antonio Express-News working her way up from route carrier to state district manager.

Grant Mabry

Grant Mabry, 53, who served as editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator during the 1980s, died Jan. 22, 2003 after a long battle with cancer.

Mabry came to the Journal-Spectator in 1984 as managing editor. A year later, he was named general manager, replacing O’Ferrall Pauly. In 1988, Mabry left Wharton to manage the Mabry family ranch in Wilburton, Okla.

During the first half of 1986, Mabry and his staff worked with the El Campo Leader-News staff to produce A Walk Through Wharton County, a Texas Sesquicentennial special section that won first place in the TPA contest and second in the National Newspaper Association.

After graduating from North Texas State University, he rose to assistant publisher of the Andrews County News and publisher of the Hood County News. He also published the Stanton Reporter.

Maury Maverick Jr.

Maury Maverick Jr., 82, died Jan. 28, 2003, of kidney cancer.

He was a Sunday columnist for the San Antonio Express-News where he penned more than a 1,000 columns, the last appearing Jan. 5. He was an attorney known for civil rights advocacy and a state representative from 1950-56. His father was a congressman and his great-grandfather was a signor of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836.

Richard Morehead Sr.

Richard M. Morehead Sr., 89, died Jan. 31, 2003.

He retired as Austin bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News Dec. 31, 1978. He also was a reporter for the Plainview Daily Herald and for United Press, which later became United Press International.

Mary Jane Rommel

Mary Jane Hale Rommel, 86, died Jan. 20, 2003, at a Houston hospital of complications of pneumonia.

She wrote the “So You’re Moving” column for the Houston Chronicle from 1964-73 and for the Kerrville Daily Times from 1987-2003. She won the Texas Communicator of Achievement award in 1994 from Texas Press Women. She was the first woman invited to join the Kerrville Noon Rotary Club and was a Paul Harris Fellow.

Thomas Stagg

Thomas Richard “Dick” Stagg, 78, died Feb. 6, 2003.

He started his newspaper career at age 12 and ran newspapers with his mother throughout World War II. He ran newspapers in Illinois until 1967 when he came to Texas and bought The Crane News, which he operated for 25 years, selling in 1982 when he retired to Odessa.

Wick Temple

Wick Temple, 65, died Feb. 1, 2003.

He was an Associated Press vice president whose four-decade career ranged from newsgathering in the civil rights-era South to leading the AP’s sports, news, personnel and newspaper membership departments. He began his career at age 16 on the Texarkana Gazette, and worked for the Austin American-Statesman while attending the University of Texas. He joined the AP’s Little Rock, Ark., bureau in 1959. He had served as director of membership since 1988.

Raywood Trahan

Raywood “Ray” Charles Trahan, 63, died Jan. 19, 2003, at Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital in Beaumont a few days after suffering a heart attack.

For 44 years he sold ads for the Orange Leader where he started in 1957 while still in high school running proofs to advertisers. He was advertising director for the last three years of his career and retired in 2001.

Madeline Williams

Madeline Crimmins Williams, 87, died Feb. 3, 2003, of heart failure.

She was one of the first female reporters hired by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the 1930s. She married courthourse reporter Mack Williams in 1947 and the couple in 1968 bought the Fort Worth News Tribune and published it until selling in 1984.