Janey Carothers, 69, of Afton, died May 5, 2002. She wrote the Afton news column for the Texas Spur for many years and worked as a hospital clerk in Lubbock.

Roy Cooper

Roy Cooper, 78, died March 30, 2002 at Hill Country Care Center in Junction.

He was publisher of the Junction Eagle for nearly 30 years. He bought the newspaper in 1968 and was editor and publisher until selling it to daughter and current publisher Debbie Cooper in 1996.

He began his career at the Devil’s River News in Sonora where he worked for 16 years and taught classes for the G.I. Forum. He gave up a college scholarship to join the U.S. Marines and served in the 101st Marine Division in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war he was a motorcycle officer for the San Diego Police.

Rebecca Grasser

Rebecca Grasser, 24, died May 6, 2002 in Lancaster.

She was a free-lance writer for the Ellis County Press and had worked for Today Newspapers and The Free Press in Buda. She attended Southwest Texas State University and was a columnist for The University Star.

A.C. Greene

A.C. Greene, 78, died May 5, 2002 at his Salado home after a lengthy battle with cancer.

He was a Texas historian and longtime columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He was emeritus director of the University of North Texas Center for Texas Studies. He wrote several books including his “50 Best Books on Texas,” which won wide acceptance as a reference tool.

His weekly “Texas Sketches” column began in the News in 1983 and in 1985-86 he was the newspaper’s historical editor for its 100th anniversary. He began writing for the Abilene Reporter News in 1948 and was a writer from 1960-68 with the Dallas Times Herald.

Cap Henkel

C.M. “Cap” Henkel Jr., 89, of Rockport died May 10, 2002 in a Corpus Christi hospital.

“Cap” joined the Merchant Marine, eventually serving as a captain for the Isthmian Shipping Lines. During World War II, one of the ships he was on was torpedoed by the Japanese and sank, but Henkel and the rest of crew were rescued. On Dec. 23, 1941, while still in the Merchant Marine, he married Katharine “Kitty” Cherbonnier Ewing.

When he left the Merchant Marine after the war, he moved to Groves, to establish the Groves Advocate, then moved to Nederland where he became editor of the Mid-County News.

In 1956, he moved to Robstown to become news editor of what was then the Robstown Record, and is now the Nueces County Record-Star. In 1963, he became publisher of the Refugio County Press.

For several years after his retirement in 1977, he continued to write “Coffee time” for the Refugio County Press, “Tidemarks” for the Port Aransas South Jetty, and “Austin at Wharf” for the Rockport Pilot.

Throughout his newspaper career, he won awards from the South Texas Press Association (STPA) and Texas Press Association for column and editorial writing. Under the direction of the Henkels, the Refugio County Press won the TPA Sweepstakes award twice, and several Best All Around awards from STPA.

Henkel was president of STPA in 1971-72, and was recognized as a past president on May 3, during STPA’s 75th annual convention in San Antonio. He also served as president of the Corpus Christi Press Club.

His daughter Mary Judson publishes the Port Aransas South Jetty with husband Murray.

Staley McBrayer

Staley Thomas McBrayer, 92, a former newspaper publisher and inventor of the newspaper offset press, died May 14, 2002 in Fort Worth.

McBrayer is credited with saving small newspapers across the country from oblivion and literally changing the face of newspapering. Publishers dubbed him the “Wilbur Wright” of the newspaper offset press.

“It saved the small newspaper. He pioneered suburban newspaper publishing,” said Otha Spencer, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University-Commerce and author of Staley McBrayer and the Offset Newspaper Revolution.

In the early 1940s, McBrayer and his wife operated four newspapers in Fort Worth — the River Oaks News, the Bomber News, the Fort Worth West Side Post and the North Fort Worth News. Beginning in the late 1940s, they owned and operated newspapers in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Irving, Haltom City and Richland Hills before selling them in the 1960s.

In 1954, he introduced the Vanguard web offset press and moved the newspaper industry from “hot type” printing to a “cold type” process. Newspapers began to print from photographic images instead of hand-set metal type, cutting down on printing time and costs.

McBrayer received a bachelor’s in 1933 from East Texas State Teachers College, now A&M-Commerce and after finishing graduate studies in journalism at the University of Texas he became the advertising and business manager of the Commerce Daily Journal.

Texas A&M-Commerce recognized McBrayer as a distinguished alumnus in 1973. The campus is home to the Staley T. McBrayer Instructional Printing Facility, the largest such facility in the Southwest.

He was national president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 1967-68. Editor & Publisher named McBrayer one of 50 people who made a difference in journalism in the 20th century.

Francis P. Raffetto

Francis P. Raffetto, 86, died May 12, 2002 of natural causes in an assisted living center in Lake Jackson. He worked 22 years at The Dallas Morning News as a reporter, food columnist and assistant amusements editor before retiring in 1975.

Laura Wysatta

Laura Jean Wysatta, 76, died April 11, 2002 at a Fort Worth hospital. She was among the first female reporters to cover news in Fort Worth. Her resume includes stints as reporter at Fort Worth Press, San Angelo Standard-Times, Galveston News, Houston Chronicle and Houston Press. Her husband George Wysatta worked for the Dallas Times Herald.

She was a co-founder of the Fort Worth Observer and was editor until late 1978.

Gilberto Zardeneta

Gilberto Zardeneta, 83, died May 21, 2002. He was a photographer for the Laredo Morning Times and for a newspaper in Monterrey, Mexico.