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Obituaries published in the September 2020 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

Grady Joe Harrison
SPUR – Grady Joe Harrison, longtime editor and publisher of the Texas Spur, died July 30. He was 91.
A Coleman native and 1947 CHS school graduate, Harrison played for the regional championship-winning Bluecats football team. He started his journalism career in high school, working at the Coleman Democrat-Voice. 
He attended Hardin College in Wichita Falls (formerly known as Midwestern University). After completing a one-year graphic arts study at Hardin, he was hired at the Montague County Times in Bowie. He also worked at the Abilene Reporter-News for a time. 
He served in the Army from 1952 to 1954, stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. He was selected to be on the staff for The Stars and Stripes before he chose to return home to his growing family and enroll at Texas Technical College, graduating in three years with a journalism degree. He worked at the Toreador, the Texas Tech weekly newspaper, and after graduation he went to work at The Texas Spur newspaper with the option to buy. He and his wife, his high school sweetheart Jo Ann Pirtle Harrison, purchased the paper shortly afterward. They operated The Texas Spur for 39 years, receiving numerous awards, including the General Excellence Award from the West Texas Press Association, and many other honors in news writing, sports writing, column writing and advertising initiative. 
He served on the Spur ISD school board, was Lions Club president and was named Man of the Year twice. He was voted Citizen of the year by the VFW, was mayor of Spur and was named an honorary lifetime mmber of the Spur Ex-Students Association. He also was honored by 4-H organizations in Dickens and Kent Counties. 
When Harrison retired, the Spur High School Athletic Booster Club presented him with a plaque for 39 years of service to high school athletic programs. The local FFA chapter, the local fire department and the Spur High School National Honor Society each also named him an honorary member.
He held every position in the Spur First United Methodist Church except pastor and choir director. He was the custodian of the church for 10 years, opening up the building before services, turning on the lights and the heat or air conditioning, starting the coffee, and handing out the Sunday School books. He was head usher for many years and served as the treasurer of the church.
Survivors include his wife of 70 years, Jo Ann, two sons, five grandchildren, three great grandchildren and other relatives.
Memorials may be contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association or First United Methodist Church of Spur.
No funeral service was scheduled.

Carl Thomas Anderson
MINEOLA – Carl Thomas (Tommy) Anderson, 78, of Mineola, died July 13. 
Anderson was a retired journalist and teacher and a member of Broad Street Church of Christ. 
He previously resided in Lake Jackson, where he was publisher of the Lake Jackson News in the 1990s. 
He served as an officer in the Texas Press Association as well as the Gulf Coast Press Association.
Anderson was a member of the Lions Club, the Lake Jackson Symphony and the Lake Country Symphonic Band. He was a licensed boat captain and airplane pilot.
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Lucy Anderson of Mineola, two children, five grandchildren and other relatives.
A memorial service was held July 18 at Broad Street Church of Christ in Mineola. Interment was July 17 in the Staples Cemetery in Staples.