[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 11, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E944-E945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO BILL HORNER, JR., A RESPECTED NEWSMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 11, 2005

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note the passing of a 
distinguished gentleman. Bill Horner, Jr., the former publisher of The 
Sanford Herald, was a great North Carolinian. He died last month after 
a 3 year battle with cancer, and is survived by a fine and loving North 
Carolina family. I ask permission to submit for the Record several 
newspaper reports on this sad occasion.

    Bill Horner Jr., 67, Newsman was Publisher of the Sanford Herald

                      (From the Associated Press)

       Sanford.--Bill Horner Jr., the middle man in a family 
     tradition of publishing The Sanford Herald, died Thursday of 
     cancer, the newspaper reported. He was 67.
       Horner died in Sunset Beach, where he had moved after his 
     retirement 7 years ago.
       Beginning in the 1960s, William Edward Horner Jr. worked in 
     all departments of the paper before he finally followed in 
     the footsteps of his father, Herald founder W.E. Horner, as 
     publisher in 1991.
       He retired April 1, 1998, when the newspaper was sold to 
     Paxton Media Group, a family-owned company based in Paducah, 
     Ky. His son, Bill Horner III, is the current publisher.
       Horner was born in Sanford and graduated from Sanford 
     Central High School. As a youth, he delivered the Herald on 
     his bicycle and later spent afternoons and evenings working 
     in the mailroom.
       He earned an English degree at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1959, 
     working in the newspaper industry during the summers.
       Horner served 2 years in the Navy after graduation, then 
     returned to the Herald at the behest of his father, who told 
     his son he would start as a printer's devil.
       ``I had some idea of what a printer's devil was,'' Horner 
     wrote in 1980, ``and it didn't sound nearly as flashy as 
     being a lieutenant (jg) in the U.S. Navy.''
       But he came home nevertheless, working in the print shop 
     and then moving on to other parts of the newspaper, including 
     the newsroom.
       He gradually assumed a greater role in the management of 
     the newspaper, taking over major decisions about the business 
     upon W.E. Horner's semiretirement in 1966 at the age of 65.
       ``Bill was very kind and supportive to me over the years, 
     and I always considered him more of a friend than as my 
     boss,'' said R.V. Hight, who began work at The Herald in 1979 
     as sports editor and now serves as special projects editor.
       ``He loved this newspaper and was a strong leader as both 
     general manager and publisher. I am grateful to have known 
     Bill, and I shall miss him.''
       In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter, 
     Belinda Horner Cooper of Hampstead; close friend Carol Bowman 
     of Sunset Beach; sisters Louise Horner Bowles of Greensboro 
     and Nancy Horner Hulin of Carolina Beach; four grandchildren; 
     and two nieces and a nephew.
       The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, people consider 
     making donations to the Lower Cape Fear Hospice & 
     LifeCareCenter, 10 Doctors Circle, Suite 4, Supply, NC, 
     28432, or to the charity of their choice.
       A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. 
     Luke United Methodist Church.

                       [From the Sanford Herald]

                   Former Herald Publisher, 67, Dies

       Sunset Beach.--Former Herald Publisher Bill Horner Jr., who 
     oversaw the newspaper's conversion from ``hot-type'' to 
     ``cold-type'' offset printing, died Thursday of complications 
     following a three-year battle with cancer.
       William Edwin Horner Jr., 67, was the son of Herald founder 
     W.E. Horner, who died in 1994, and father of current 
     publisher Bill Horner III. A memorial service is planned for 
     11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Luke United Methodist Church, where 
     Horner was a member. The Rev. Bob Yandle, a friend of 
     Horner's for many years, will officiate.
       Diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the fall of 2001, 
     Horner underwent surgery for the disease on two occasions and 
     was in remission for a time, but the cancer returned and his 
     health declined steadily in the last year.
       In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter, 
     Belinda Horner Cooper, of Hampstead, and her husband Billy; 
     his special friend Carol Bowman of Sunset Beach; sisters 
     Louise Horner Bowles of Greensboro and Nancy Horner Hulin of 
     Carolina Beach; and grandchildren William E. ``Zachary'' 
     Horner IV, Addison Horner and Karis Horner, children of Bill 
     III and his wife, Lee Ann. Also surviving are nieces Cheryle 
     Hulin Brown of Knightdale and Laura Bowles Warren of McLean, 
     Va., and nephew Jim Hulin of Jamestown.
       In addition to his father, Horner was preceded in death by 
     his mother, Nannie Andrews Horner, in 1978.
       Horner was born in Sanford and graduated from Sanford 
     Central High School, completing his high school degree while 
     working afternoons and evenings in the mailroom of The 
     Herald. Upon turning 12 years old, he took a bicycle paper 
     route that served 125 customers in a section of downtown 
     Sanford near the family home. Following high school, he 
     attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 
     earning a degree in English in 1959.
       During his college years, he stayed close to the newspaper 
     business--working one summer as a reporter for The Raleigh 
     Times, the now-defunct sister newspaper of The News & 
     Observer, and another selling subscriptions door-to-door in 
     rural Kentucky for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal.
       After his graduation from Chapel Hill, Horner--who was a 
     part of the Reserve Officer Training Corps during his college 
     years--was commissioned as an ensign and called up for a two-
     year hitch with the Navy. He spent most of that time aboard 
     the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal as chief 
     disbursement officer on the ship's supply officer staff.
       Horner wrote in the 50th anniversary edition of The Herald 
     in 1980 that while aboard the Forrestal, his duties ranged 
     ``from being disbursing officer in charge of the ship's 
     finances and safes, in which I kept more than $7 million in 
     cold, hard cash, to being an assistant stores officer when 
     about all I had to do was check storerooms to make sure the 
     pliers, wrenches and ballpoint pens were counted correctly.''
       Eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior 
     grade), Horner was about to disembark in Naples, Italy and 
     fly back to Norfolk, Va., for mustering out when he wrote he 
     ``received THE letter from the `old man'--not the Navy one, 
     the Herald one.''
       Horner said his father detailed plans in the letter for his 
     son to come back to the newspaper to formally learn the 
     trade--beginning with the job of ``printer's devil'' in the 
     newspaper's ``back shop,'' and then learning to operate a 
     linotype machine, before moving to the other departments of 
     the operation.
       ``I had some idea of what a printer's devil was,'' Horner 
     wrote in 1980, ``and it didn't sound nearly as flashy as 
     being a Lieutenant (jg) in the U.S. Navy.''
       By then, he was married to his first wife, the former 
     Shirley Prendergast, whom he met in the Navy, and Horner 
     eventually worked his way through all departments of the 
     newspaper, even serving as interim editor for a period in 
     1964.
       One of his experiences that same year as a reporter, he'd 
     later say, showed him the importance of a newspaper's role in 
     the community.
       He was assigned to cover a gathering of the local chapter 
     of the Ku Klux Klan, which was

[[Page E945]]

     active in Lee County at the time. After being searched for 
     weapons and a camera, Horner was allowed to enter the area 
     where the Klan was preparing for a cross burning. He 
     furiously scribbled notes about what he saw, and when it was 
     all over with, he headed back to his car. ``I got stopped by 
     one of the Klan's security guards on the way out,'' he'd 
     later say. ``They searched me again and found my notebook. 
     They wanted to see what I had written, so I showed it to 
     them--but I handed them my notebook upside down. One of the 
     guards looked at it for awhile--nobody could read my 
     handwriting except me--and gave it back and said, `OK, you 
     can go.' I came back and wrote the story.''
       Horner gradually assumed a greater role in the management 
     of the newspaper, especially upon W.E. Horner's 
     ``retirement'' in 1966 at the age of 65. The elder Horner 
     never really left the business, keeping an office and writing 
     the ``Good Afternoon'' column nearly every day until the mid-
     1980s. But he did leave the major decisions about the 
     business to his successor. The son eventually succeeded the 
     father as publisher in 1991 and retired on April 1, 1998, 
     when the newspaper was sold to Paxton Media Group, a family-
     owned company based in Paducah, Ky.
       ``Bill was very kind and supportive to me over the years, 
     and I always considered him more of a friend than as my 
     boss,'' said R.V. Hight, who began work at The Herald in 1979 
     as sports editor and now serves as special projects editor. 
     ``I shall forever be indebted to Bill for hiring me and for 
     the encouragement he gave me over the years. He loved this 
     newspaper and was a strong leader as both general manager and 
     publisher.''
       ``I am grateful to have known Bill and I shall miss him.''
       Robert Stone worked at The Herald for 44 years, retiring in 
     1996.
       ``He understood that a local newspaper is all about local 
     news,'' Stone said of Horner. ``And I think, really and 
     truly, he understood better that the employees were the 
     important part of the organization.
       Charlie Welborn, a partner with the accounting firm of 
     Davenport, Marvin, Joyce & Co., was a best friend of Bill 
     Horner III and eventually became the newspaper's accountant--
     and a close friend of Bill Jr.'s as well.
       ``Bill was a very successful businessman who carried on the 
     tradition of The Herald that was founded by his father,'' 
     Welborn said. ``I enjoyed the business relationship that we 
     had, but more importantly he was a very good friend. I 
     visited him often at the beach and he was always interested 
     in the news from Sanford/Lee County. He would reminisce about 
     his career, family and friends. I will miss him greatly and 
     feel that I am a better person for having known him.''
       A former member of the Kiwanis Club of Sanford and the 
     Rotary Club of Sanford, Horner was a lifelong member of the 
     General Alumni Association of UNC and was also active on the 
     boards of directors of several local organizations, including 
     Southern National (and later BB&T) Bank.
       He served a term as a director for the North Carolina Press 
     Association--an organization for which both his father (in 
     1939) and son (in 2002) both served as president--and was a 
     member of St. Luke United Methodist Church.
       Horner moved to Sunset Beach a few months after his 
     retirement and became active as a member of the board of 
     directors of the Providence Home Family Emergency Teen 
     Shelter in Southport, and played a key role in the 
     organization's fund-raising efforts.
       He enjoyed sailing and for many years held a private 
     pilot's license and built and flew his own remote-control 
     airplanes. He was an experienced gardener and ham radio 
     operator, and once talked to explorer and adventurer Thor 
     Hyerdahl during one of Hyerdahl's ocean-crossing raft trips, 
     as well as to King and Queen Hussein of Jordan. He enjoyed 
     reading and classical music and was a keen observer of 
     current events and world politics.
       In lieu of flowers, the family has requested friends 
     consider making donations or memorials to the Lower Cape Fear 
     Hospice & LifeCareCenter, 10 Doctors Circle, Suite 4, Supply, 
     N.C., 28432, or to the charity of their choice.
       Arrangements are by Brunswick Funeral Services in Shallotte 
     and Rogers-Pickard Funeral Home. The family will receive 
     friends following the memorial service at the home of Bill 
     Horner III.
                                  ____


                      [From the Dunn Daily Record]

                     State Loses Respected Newsman

       Please allow us to note the passing of a friend and 
     colleague in North Carolina's newspaper community. Bill 
     Horner Jr., former publisher of The Sanford Herald in 
     neighboring Lee County, died Thursday after a three-year 
     battle with cancer.
       At just 67, Mr. Horner died in Sunset Beach, where he had 
     moved after his retirement seven years ago.
       Having grown up in a newspaper family, Mr. Horner stayed 
     close to the business during his college years, working one 
     summer as a reporter for The Raleigh Times, the now-defunct 
     sister newspaper of The News & Observer, and another selling 
     subscriptions door-to-door in rural Kentucky for The 
     (Louisville) Courier-Journal.
       After graduating from the University of North Carolina at 
     Chapel Hill in 1959, Mr. Horner--who was part of the Reserve 
     Officer Training Corps during his college years--was 
     commissioned as an ensign and called up for a two-year hitch 
     with the Navy. He spent most of that time aboard the aircraft 
     carrier U.S.S. Forrestal as chief disbursement officer on the 
     ship's supply officer staff.
       After his military service, he returned to The Herald at 
     the behest of his father, Herald founder W.E. Horner, who 
     told his son he would start as a printer's devil.
       He worked in the newspaper's print shop and then moved on 
     to other parts of the newspaper, including the newsroom. He 
     gradually assumed a greater role in the management of the 
     newspaper, taking over major decisions about the business 
     upon his father's semi-retirement in 1966 at the age of 65.
       Having worked in every department of the paper, Mr. Horner 
     took over as publisher in 1991. He retired on April 1, 1998, 
     when the newspaper was sold to Paxton Media Group, a family-
     owned company based in Paducah, Ky. His son, Bill Horner III, 
     is the current publisher.
       Bill Horner Jr. was a respected newspaper man who built on 
     the success of his father. Under Bill Horner Jr., the 
     newspaper made strides in technology and in its community 
     service, consistently winning awards from the North Carolina 
     Press Association.
       ``Bill was very kind and supportive to me over the years, 
     and I always considered him more of a friend than as my 
     boss,'' said R.V. Hight, who began work at The Herald in 1979 
     as sports editor and now serves as special projects editor. 
     ``He loved this newspaper and was a strong leader as both 
     general manager and publisher. I am grateful to have known 
     Bill and I shall miss him.''
       Another longtime Herald staffer, Robert Stone, worked at 
     the newspaper for 44 years, retiring in 1996.
       ``He understood that a local newspaper is all about local 
     news,'' Mr. Stone said. ``And I think, really and truly, he 
     understood better that the employees were the important part 
     of the organization.
       With his passing, the Sanford community--and that state's 
     newspaper community--has lost a dear and respected friend.

                          ____________________