[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        IN MEMORY OF ROBERT E. BEST, PUBLISHER AND HUMANITARIAN

                                 ______


                               speech of

                           HON. GLENN POSHARD

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 28, 1994

  Mr. POSHARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late 
Robert E. Best, a renowned publisher and community leader from 
Sullivan, IL. Robert Best left us last fall, but his community spirit 
and contributions to the journalism field will not be forgotten. After 
Mr. Best's death, his newspaper, News Progress, published a fitting 
tribute to Mr. Best and his work as a publisher and humanitarian. It 
would be my honor to enter into the Congressional Record this tribute 
that captured the essence and life of Robert E. Best.

      [From the Best Newspapers in Illinois, Inc., Nov. 24, 1993]

              Death of News-Progress Publisher Leaves Void

                           (By Lisa Muirheid)

       The death Sunday night of Robert E. Best, publisher of the 
     News-Progress, leaves a void in the community he served and 
     the profession he loved, friends and colleagues said this 
     week.
       Mr. Best, 62, died at St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur after 
     suffering a heart attack about 9:30 p.m. Sunday at his home 
     in Sullivan.
       In his 32-year career as an Illinois publisher, he earned 
     many honors. He served terms as president of both the 
     Illinois Press Association and the Southern Illinois 
     Editorial Association. In 1987, he was inducted into the 
     Southern Illinois University Journalism Hall of Fame as a 
     ``master editor.''
       Born to Ellis J. and Nellie C. Murphy Best on July 25, 
     1931, in Jefferson City, Mo., Robert E. was the oldest of 
     three children.
       He earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the 
     University of Missouri at Columbia and did graduate work 
     there in journalism. He attended the university on a Navy 
     ROTC scholarship and served three years in the Navy, largely 
     aboard the USS Telfair, a troop transport ship that made 
     tours of Southeast Asia. He left the service as a Naval 
     lieutenant, junior grade.
       He married Marion Denny on Dec. 28, 1954, in Evanston, Ill. 
     The two have worked side by side as publisher and editor of a 
     newspaper in Sullivan since they purchased the Moultrie 
     County News in October of 1961.
       Marion Best survives along with their two children, 
     Kathleen L. Best, a reporter in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 
     Washington Bureau, and Robert R. Best, chief pressman and 
     photographer at the News-Progress.
       The newspaper will stay in the family. All three members 
     plan to be involved in the transition phase. Marion Best will 
     serve as publisher, R.R. will continue as chief pressman and 
     head photographer and Kathy will help out on the editorial 
     desk during the month of December.
       Mr. Best is also survived by a sister, Ann Mattli, of 
     Poplar Bluff, Mo., and brother, Edward Best, of Martinez, 
     Cal.
       After 12 years of running the Moultrie County News, which 
     was one of two competing weeklies in Sullivan for 91 years, 
     the Bests purchased the Bethany Echo and the Findlay 
     Enterprise in 1973. In December 1978, fellow publisher Byron 
     Brandenburger sold them the Sullivan Progress, the weekly 
     newspaper they had competed with for advertising and news for 
     17 years. Two years later they purchased the subscription 
     list of the Lovington Reporter, the only other weekly in the 
     county. In June 1981, all the papers but Findlay were 
     incorporated into the weekly News-Progress.
       One year after purchasing the Moultrie County News in 1961, 
     the Bests attended their first Illinois Press Association 
     convention to pick up the first of more than 100 awards the 
     paper has won over the past 32 years. In 1984, the News-
     Progress was the first semi-weekly to win the Illinois Press 
     Association's Kramer Trophy for editorial excellence.
       Mr. Best wrote more than 1,200 columns and 2,400 editorials 
     during those years. He has served as co-chairman of the IPA 
     Legislative Committee after his tenure as president.
       ``Bob was acutely sensitive to the Illinois citizen's 
     `right to know' and he was at the forefront in protecting 
     that right,'' said Joe Firstl, who served as a co-chair on 
     the committee with Bob. ``He was a dedicated newspaper man in 
     every sense of the word. He always put himself out for the 
     newspaper publisher and anyone who wanted to know how to get 
     the what, where, when, why and how.''
       Firstl remembered many weekend days spent on the telephone 
     with his partner.
       ``We would spend hours trying to figure out what a 
     legislator had in his mind when a bill was introduced and how 
     we could collectively combat the sometimes evil forces which 
     act against the Illinois citizens and publishers. We would go 
     over every bill word-for-word. I will miss that man very, 
     very much.
       Mr. Best was also an active member of the National 
     Newspaper Association. He served as the Illinois state 
     chairman and on many other committees, including membership 
     and long range planning.
       ``I learned so much from him and he was so willing to share 
     all of his knowledge,'' said longtime friend and former 
     employee Sharon White. ``Shortly after I began working at the 
     paper someone asked me if Bob was difficult to work for 
     because he always seemed so gruff. I had to tell her he 
     was the biggest pussycat I had every known.''
       A neighbor and confidant for many years, Bill Stubblefield 
     said when he thinks of Mr. Best, he remembers how his 
     neighbor enjoyed ``a whole bunch of things.''
       ``He always kind of made me mad because he knew a little 
     bit about everything. Usually when we get into discussions--
     as we called them--he was right,'' Stubblefield said, adding 
     he would never have admitted that to Mr. Best's face.
       ``He enjoyed working, his computers, his family, his stupid 
     cats and gardening. He just seemed to enjoy everything--and 
     he was good at a lot of them. He loved to raise dumb things 
     in the garden then find recipes to cook them in. It never 
     ceased to amaze me the interests he had. There was a really 
     broad scope,'' Stubblefield said.
       ``Discussing'' was one of the activities Bob Best enjoyed 
     most.
       ``I knew Bob for over 20 years. We didn't always agree on 
     everything, but we respected each other's opinion. Bob had a 
     way of asking questions about issues that needed resolutions. 
     He started people thinking and soon they were solving the 
     problems,'' said Sullivan city councilman and businessman Ron 
     White.
       ``We have been through some miles together, Bob and I, and 
     I am truly sorry we will not have the chance to journey 
     together into the future,'' White said.
       Mr. Best's friendship with the Whites began before their 
     work on Little Theatre projects. Mr. Best was a founding 
     member of the Friends of the Little Theatre on the Square 
     after the theatre's dark season in 1980. According to Sharon 
     White, he literally created the organization.
       ``One day after Guy Little Jr. announced he was leaving 
     Sullivan and it seemed the Little Theatre on the Square would 
     close, a congressmen called Bob from Washington and asked 
     what the community was doing to keep this unique asset from 
     being lost,'' she explained. ``Not wanting the potentially 
     valuable opportunity to slip away, he quickly ad libbed. I 
     was standing near his desk when he said, `Yes, there is a 
     grassroots volunteer community organization that could use 
     your help. They call themselves the Friends of the Little 
     Theatre . . . and I believe Sharon White is the president'.''
       White said her jaw dropped and Mr. Best smiled a 
     mischievous smile. She quickly found out he was willing to 
     help dig her out of the hole he had put her in.
       ``Bob and Marion--and their checkbook--were always there 
     with their support and encouragement. He believed so much in 
     this community. I don't think anyone even knows how much he 
     did. He's going to leave a big hole in this community,'' 
     Sharon White said.
       Guy Little, whose Little Theatre on the Square was the 
     deciding factor that led Bob and Marion Best to Sullivan in 
     1961, said the loss of his friend is just another reason why 
     it is important to not take anything for granted.
       ``I worked with him so closely when I was managing the 
     theatre. He was always helpful, supportive and patient. It 
     was a terrible, terrible shock,'' Little said. ``We need to 
     treasure and appreciate every moment we have.''
       While it was generally well deserved, one thing Mr. Best 
     was not fond of was flattery and too much praise.
       In 1991, he accepted the Distinguished Service Award from 
     the Illinois Press Assn. He did so after a four-page 
     biography was read to a packed banquet room.
       His first response before accepting the award was: ``And I 
     know how to edit and somebody should have let me do that.''
       ``Bob was a man who didn't like publicity for the many 
     projects that he helped succeed,'' said Ron White. ``He was a 
     wise and intelligent man who could see solutions behind 
     problems and encouraged his friends and acquaintances on how 
     to come up with solutions for themselves.''
       White also commended Mr. Best for support of both Sullivan 
     businesses and Sullivan school activities.
       ``He was proud that he had a part in helping the high 
     school students revive the student newspaper and win many 
     awards in only their first year of publication,'' White said.
       Bob Best was a man with a great deal of knowledge to share. 
     Sometimes he did it quietly and at other times, with the 
     thunder of a bolt of lightening. He knew a lot and he shared 
     a lot. The only thing he didn't teach those that knew him was 
     enough, friends said.
       Sharon White said a great deal in one short sentence.
       ``I wasn't done with Bob Best yet.''
       Neither were we.

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