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Obituaries published in the January 2025 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

WILLIAM WALLACE

BEAUMONT – Former Wharton County Journal-Spectator publisher William (Bill) Wallace died Dec. 6. He was 72.

Wallace served as publisher of the Wharton County Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express from May 2009 until January 2023. Following his tenure in the Wharton community, he and his wife Karen moved to Beaumont.

Wallace prided himself on being an advertising man, knowing how to help people get what they want through the power of print. Prior to Wharton, his career spanned several decades in different cities across the country.

He believed getting involved in the local community was necessary for success as a publisher. He was an active Rotarian, served as a Wharton Chamber of Commerce board member and led the Journal-Spectator’s involvement in community events such as the Monterrey Wine and Arts Fair.

Prior to moving to Wharton, Wallace served as publisher of Placer County Newspapers Inc., a five-newspaper group north of Sacramento, California.

Printing was literally in Wallace’s blood. He helped at family-owned Wallace Printing Co., commercial print shop in Chattanooga, from a young age.

He attended Cleveland College, collecting a degree in marketing before starting his newspaper career with Thomson Newspapers in the late 1980s. He then worked for five daily newspapers over a 10-year span.

Wallace took an advertising director’s post the Lake Charles American Press in 1996. 

There, he met his wife Karen, a Silsbee native.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren and other relatives.

JAMES KEITH SHELTON

DENTON – Veteran North Texas reporter, editor and educator James Keith Shelton died Dec. 11. He was 92.

A native of Altus and a graduate of Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Shelton served in the Army Signal Corps in post-war occupied Frankfurt, Germany.

Following discharge, Shelton began a lengthy career as a working journalist and educator. He began as a city hall reporter and political writer for the Wichita Falls Record-News and then the Dallas Times-Herald. In Dallas, he covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as the careers of four other presidents and of Gov. John Connally.

He served on the Texas Supreme Court Task Force on Judicial Ethics, became president of the Dallas Press Club, and secretary of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, later becoming its director.

In 1965, he was named editor of the Denton Record-Chronicle. He later served as managing editor and then executive editor of all three newspapers run by Denton Publishing. His tenure with the company spanned 35 years.

In 1969, Shelton began a 23-year run as a member of journalism faculty at the University of North Texas. There he completed his masters degree, instructed three future Pulitzer prize winners and became the first faculty advisor to the student newspaper. He transitioned to director of News and Information Services and Journalist in Residence in the 1990s and early 2000s, as he became the sole caregiver of his invalid wife Deborah, a polio survivor who is now deceased. On his retirement, friends, faculty and former students honored him with a Scholarship in Journalism established in his name.

Shelton was a lifelong supporter of the Oklahoma Sooners and Dallas Cowboys, the Democratic Party, First United Methodist Church and Denton Humane Society. He is known for his army of friends and former students and his sparkling wit. He became chief resident at Good Samaritan Denton Village, where he spent 11 happy years.

Memorial services were held Dec. 20 at Mulkey-Bowles-Montgomery Funeral Home in Denton.

Memorials may be made to the Shelton Scholarship for Journalism at the University of North Texas, in care of the Director of Advancement, 1155 Union Circle No. 311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017.