Services set for Suzanne Bardwell

GLADEWATER – Award-winning journalist and journalism educator Suzanne Bardwell, wife of TPA President Jim Bardwell, died Jan. 7 following a traffic accident in Longview.
Memorial service will be held Friday, Jan. 14, at 11 a.m. (tentative) at the First Christian Church of Longview. The family will receive friends for visitation Thursday, Jan. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Croley Funeral Home in Gladewater. 
Graveside services are set at noon Saturday, Jan. 15, at the Hamilton Beeman Cemetery in Corsicana.
Through her family's company Bardwell Ink, she was co-owner of the Gladewater Mirror, the White Oak Independent and the Lindale News & Times. 
She served as president of the North & East Texas Press Association and her columns won multiple awards in the Texas Better Newspaper Contest. She also was active on the TPA Legislative Advisory Committee, helping to stave off bills that would limit freedom of the press and open records and open meetings.
Her long career in education included teaching positions with Gilmer ISD, Spring Hill ISD and White Oak ISD, where she was the adviser for the national award-winning yearbook and student newspaper. She also served as a U.S. history adjunct instructor for Kilgore College for 12 years while teaching high school journalism, psychology and sociology.
In 2013, she was named the Max R. Haddick Teacher of the Year by the University Interscholastic League (UIL), an award presented annually to the best high school journalism instructor in Texas. She also was awarded the University of Texas at Austin Edith Fox King Award, Texas Exes Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007.