[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
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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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