Mr. Find A Way to Say Yes Don Moore retires

Donald P. Moore was born in Dayton as the son of a Texas newspaperman. So it should not come as a surprise he chose community newspapers as a career. After 55 years of rolling and throwing papers, shooting photos, writing stories, selling ads and managing others in doing the same, the veteran newspaperman decided to retire in July.
Moore employed a concept in dealing with readers and advertisers over the years that served him well. He always tried to find a way to say “Yes.”
“People say if you’re lucky you love what you do for a living. I’ve loved every minute of my newspaper career, so I feel very lucky,” Moore said at his retirement dinner held recently in Brenham.
Moore started at age 13 working for his father, William F. Moore, Sr. who started the Pictorial Press in 1966. Along the way they changed the name to the Bryan Press and added the College Station Press, publishing two weeklies and serving each community and school districts equally. While working, he graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in Bryan and earned his BBA at Texas A&M University in 1974. He worked alongside his father and big brother, William F. “Bubba” Moore, Jr. until the family sold the newspaper to then owners of the Bryan-College Station Eagle, Worrell Newspapers, in 1989. 
Worrell offered Moore an opportunity as publisher for their newspapers and magazines  in Summit County, Colorado, so he moved his family to snowier pastures. After a few years, the native Texan found his way back to his home state. In 1994, Moore was hired by Jim Chionsini and Granite Publications as publisher of the Hill Country News. Moore quickly became “Mr. Cedar Park” and worked tirelessly on multiple boards with chambers of commerce, civic organizations and business groups and served in other capacities in Leander ISD and other institutions. 
“I had a vested interest in serving that community in the absolute best ways possible. Our home was there, my kids, Barry and Eva, went to school there; I believe that the staff and I did the best we could to serve the community at large every week in the pages of the Hill Country News,” Moore said.
After 16 years at the helm of the Hill Country News, Moore tackled the job of publisher at the Elgin Courier. Not long afterward he accepted the publisher position at the San Marcos Daily Record. In 2012, Moore was recruited by Jim Moser to take the publisher’s job for the Clifton Record and Meridian Tribune in Bosque County, part of Moser Community Media, LLC (MCM). 
After MCM acquired the San Marcos Daily Record Moore was asked to return there as publisher. Quickly Moore set about becoming “Mr. San Marcos” again, serving readers and advertisers in Hays County, finding ways to say “Yes” and better serving the community through the newspaper. In that seven-year stint, Moore also led the successful effort to acquire the Wimberly View and Dripping Springs Century-News and oversaw those operations as well. 
In 2018 Moser asked Moore if he would tackle some group work for MCM and Moore said “Yes.” As a group manager Moore worked with publishers of papers including the Daily Record, Wimberly View, Dripping Springs Century-News, Marble Falls Highlander, Burnet Bulletin, The Mexia News, Groesbeck Journal, Fairfield Recorder, Teague Chronicle, Cameron Herald and others.
“I could not be more proud of the job Don Moore has done for us and the legacy he leaves,” said Moser. “Don has a tireless work ethic, and he has shown countless employees – including both journalists and salespeople – how to do things the right way. I have come to consider him a dear friend and wish him and Marilyn (Redding) nothing but the best in his retirement. He surely deserves it.”
In recent years, Moore worked to improve operations at the Graham Leader, Breckenridge American and Jacksboro Herald Gazette. He also served as interim publisher at the newly acquired Sulphur Springs News-Telegram in 2019 and most recently continued his work as a group manager for MCM.
“In his career Don Moore has positively influenced and impacted countless newspaper salespeople, reporters, photographers, bookkeepers, managers and publishers across Texas. So, he’s also helped readers, advertisers and communities alike. He has a big heart and leads by example. I’m just happy I had the chance to work with him in many stops along the way and call him my friend,” said Mark Henry, vice president of MCM.
Moore says as a College Station resident he will now be able to follow his beloved Aggies and spend as much time as possible with his son Barry Moore, wife Morgan and their four children, Maggie, James, Caleb and Sam. Moore and his significant other, Marilyn Redding, also make frequent trips back to Hays County to see his daughter Eva and her husband Dustin Pugh, who are expecting their first child. One might expect that all those kids will hear, “Yes” quite a bit from their grandfather, as well as the occasional “Gig ‘em, Aggies!”