Erna Dietel Heinen

Erna Dietel Heinen, 91, died March 29, 2006. She once was part owner of the Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post. She was a reporter and columnist and received honors for her column “Millin’ Around Town.”

William Howe

William Leonard Bill Howe, 91, died March 17, 2006, in Fairhope, Ala.

He was the longtime editor and publisher of The Shamrock Texan. He was a member of the first board of directors of the West Texas Press Association, and a Panhandle Press Hall of Fame inductee.

William Klepper

William Newton “Bill” Klepper, 82, died April 30, 2006, in Crowell.

He attended Linotype school in Dallas and then went to work at the Foard County News with his father, Tully Beverly, who bought the paper in 1928. Upon his father’s death in 1966 Bill Klepper became sole owner and publisher until selling in 1992.

Bette Kirgan

Bette Nettle Kirgan, 73, died March 29, 2006, following a yearlong battle with cancer.

She was a longtime partner with husband Joe Lee Kirgan Jr., as owners of The Fairfield Recorder. The couple joined his father in publishing the Recorder, which they bought in 1960.

Max Sims Lale

Max Sims Lale, 89, died April 22, 2006, at his home in Fort Worth.

Lale joined the staff of the Marshall News Messenger in early 1946 and, except for three and a half years spent as publisher of the Greenville Herald Banner, he lived in Marshall. Later he became a historian.

Robert H. Whitten

Robert H. “Bob” Whitten, 88, died April 28, 2006.

Whitten was past president of Texas Gulf Coast Press Association, secretary of Texas Press Association in 1961 and owner and publisher of The Examiner in Navasota. In 1947 he and his father, J.G., re-purchased the paper that the elder Whitten had co-owned from 1924-36. Whitten and his son, Clark, sold it in 2001.

Whitten received a Headliners Award for photography in 1958 and TPA’s Golden 50 Award in 1992.