[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9464-S9465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S9464]]
                  HONORING THE LIFE OF JOHN B. GAINES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today to honor the life of a 
distinguished Kentuckian, Mr. John B. Gaines, president of the Bowling 
Green Daily News. He passed away last week at the age of 92.
  John came by his passion for reporting news and connecting with the 
community quite honestly. He was born and raised in a newspaper family 
his grandfather founded the Daily News, and his father ran the 
newspaper until his passing in 1947 and for half a century, John served 
as the paper's publisher. When in Bowling Green, I always appreciated 
the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with John.
  I will miss John and wish to extend my heartfelt sympathy to the 
entire Gaines family--John Pipes Gaines and his wife Susan Leonard 
Gaines, Mollie Gaines Smith and her husband, S. Russell Smith, Jr., 
Mary Gaines Dunham and her husband, David Lee Dunham; and grandsons, 
John Scott Gaines, Stephen Wilson Gaines, S. Russell Smith III and John 
Brooken Smith and his wife, Katie. While the Bowling Green community 
has lost a prominent voice, John's legacy will continue. The newspaper 
is in good hands under the leadership of his son, Pipes, and his 
grandsons working there.
  The paper he so loved and dedicated his life to paid tribute to him 
on Sunday with an article titled ``Daily News president dies at 92.'' I 
ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record, 
and that the entire Senate join me in honoring the life of this beloved 
Kentuckian.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

           [From the Bowling Green Daily News, July 15, 2007]

                    Daily News President Dies at 92

                         (By Alicia Carmichael)

       Daily News president and avid fisherman John B. Gaines 
     always told his childhood friend John Clagett ``he was going 
     to live until he got pulled under by a big fish at the age of 
     90,'' Clagett said Saturday.
       On Friday at The Medical Center, 92-year-old Gaines died 
     quietly, surrounded by family, after a short illness.
       ``The big fish got him,'' Clagett said sadly Saturday from 
     his home in Middleberry, VT.
       Still, according to many of those who knew him well, Gaines 
     lived life to the fullest until his last days.
       ``He had much difficulty getting around, walking, but he 
     came to church most every Sunday'' at Christ Episcopal 
     Church, said John Grider, who through the years did 
     bookkeeping, accounting and tax work for Gaines and served 
     with Gaines on the board of directors at Citizens National 
     Bank.
       Ewing Hines, who worked for Gaines for 40 years as a Daily 
     News accountant, said Gaines was still talking about fishing 
     on Friday.
       ``I called down at the hospital,'' Hines said. ``(His son) 
     Pipes took the phone, and I heard him say in the background, 
     'Tell him it's a good day to flyfish.' And I thought he was 
     getting better.''
       Now Hines can't believe his ``best friend'' is gone.
       ``This hurts me about as much as anything that has 
     happened,'' he said. ``He always had time to talk to me. He 
     was a great person.''
       Michael G. Catlett, who was Gaines' financial consultant 
     and friend, said Gaines ``was a man who showed you personal 
     attention. He acted like he really cared for you when he was 
     talking to you.''
       Gaines and Catlett often took walks through Bowling Green, 
     before walking became difficult for Gaines.
       ``I used to tell him, `I enjoy our walks downtown because 
     it elevates my status in the community,' `` Catlett said. 
     ``He laughed about that.''
       With Gaines' passing, Catlett said, Bowling Green has lost 
     a ``treasure . . . a great man of integrity, manners and 
     respect.''
       Don Stringer, the former longtime managing editor at the 
     Daily News, also talked about Gaines' integrity.
       ``He always stood behind us'' in the newsroom, Stringer 
     said, ``and he had no compunction, when we were right, about 
     saying, `That's what we're going to do.'''
       With ``a wonderful dry sense of humor,'' Stringer said, 
     Gaines took the newspaper business's ups and downs in stride.
       Daily News general manager Mark Van Patten said many often 
     overlooked Gaines' vivid wit because of his usually serious 
     demeanor.
       But that demeanor came from his love for the newspaper, 
     which was started by his grandfather, also named John Gaines, 
     in 1882. The younger John Gaines, a graduate of the 
     University of Alabama, took over the running the Daily News 
     after his dad, Clarence M. Gaines, died in 1947. For half a 
     century, he was the paper's publisher.
       ``He really loved the newspaper and loved this community,'' 
     Van Patten said, ``and that was always foremost in decisions 
     he made.'' Van Patten added he has ``never worked for a 
     publisher that had stronger ethics than Mr. Gaines,'' who 
     ``just loved newspaper and journalism and the business of 
     newspapers in general.''
       Less than two weeks before he died, Gaines was in his Daily 
     News office, as he was nearly every work day when he wasn't 
     ill--or, in his later years, spending 6 weeks each winter in 
     Florida.
       ``I could not believe it,'' Grider said of Gaines' devotion 
     to his work at a time of life when most have been retired for 
     decades.
       Gaines' mind was kept sharp because of his work, Grider 
     thinks.
       ``We had a lot of nice discussions,'' Grider said, ``and 
     for his age, his mental capacity was remarkable.''
       Gregg K. Jones, who is co-publisher of The Greeneville Sun 
     in Tennessee, president of Jones Media Inc., past chairman of 
     the Newspaper Association of America--the largest newspaper 
     trade association in the United States--and a former 
     president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, 
     said Gaines was planning, as recently as two weeks ago, to 
     attend this year's SNPA meeting in West Virginia.
       For two terms, Gaines was director of the association. He 
     also served as president of the Kentucky Press Association, 
     as his grandfather had once done, in 1962, and was the 1980 
     recipient of the Edwards M. Templin Memorial Award, which was 
     presented by the Lexington Herald-Leader to the Kentucky 
     newspaper person who performed the most outstanding community 
     service.
       ``He was revered in the Southern Newspaper Publishers 
     Association,'' Jones said, ``and people were always excited 
     to see him there, not only to hear what he had to say, but so 
     they could learn from him.''
       Jones, whose family has owned The Greeneville Sun for 
     generations, said Gaines was as passionate about his family's 
     ownership of the Daily News as he was about the newspaper 
     industry in general.
       ``He didn't like the idea of newspapers being owned by 
     impersonal public companies,'' Jones said. ``He cared so much 
     about his community. He made that very clear, and that's 
     something our families shared. We've always placed a very 
     high value on the bond between a newspaper and the community 
     it serves.''
       Gaines especially loved helping small business people grow 
     their businesses, Jones said.
       ``He considered his relationships with his advertisers and 
     readers to be partnerships,'' Jones said. ``So many people in 
     Bowling Green have built their businesses through (the) 
     newspaper in Bowling Green. He loved that and seeing people 
     succeed, and seeing Bowling Green progress.''
       ``At the same time, John was a fiercely independent guy,'' 
     Jones said--a newsman who at one time was a member of the 
     Calendar Club literary group in Bowling Green, a former 
     member of the Bowling Green Noon Rotary Club, a member of the 
     Society of Professional Journalists and a charter member of 
     the Bowling Green-Warren County Jaycees.
       Gaines was also chairman of the boards of News Publishing 
     LLC, which operates the Daily News, and the Daily News 
     Broadcasting Company, which operates WKCT-AM and WDNS-FM 
     radio stations in Bowling Green.
       In his free time, Gaines loved fishing, dove hunting, 
     traveling both domestically and abroad, and good food, said 
     his grandson, Steve Gaines, who is editorial page editor at 
     the Daily News.
       ``My fondest memories of my grandfather will always be 
     spending countless hours fishing next to him on the creek 
     beds or countless hours in the dove field, either shooting 
     doves or talking about Alabama football,'' Steve Gaines said.
       John Gaines was also was loyal to his church, where he had 
     served on the vestry and was a trustee of the Delafield 
     Committee.
       The Rev. Howard Surface, who was Gaines' pastor at Christ 
     Episcopal Church for four decades, said that for years, 
     Gaines came to the church several days a week.
       ``For many, many years my office was in the front part of 
     the church on State Street,'' Surface said, ``and every day 
     around noon I would see John. He made a habit of walking up 
     State Street and he would stop at the church's prayer 
     chapel.''
       Gaines' also was devoted to his family, Steve Gaines said.
       ``My grandfather said many times the best thing he ever did 
     in life was marry Mabel Sharp Gaines, and he was right.''
       Gaines and his wife raised three children: Pipes Gaines, 
     who is now publisher of the Daily News, Mary Gaines Dunham, 
     who is retired from her job as national advertising director 
     at the newspaper, and Mollie Gaines Smith, now of Louisville.
       The couple also had several grandchildren, including Scott 
     Gaines, who is Steve Gaines' brother and works in the 
     business side of the Daily News.
       Steve Gaines said he now takes solace in the fact that his 
     grandfather was surrounded by family when he died. He's also 
     comforted by the fact that his granddad knew the Daily News 
     would stay in the Gaines family after his death.
       ``He wouldn't have wanted it any other way,'' he said.
       Stringer said he now thinks one of Gaines' greatest 
     legacies has been passing down his sense of integrity to his 
     children, and gave Gaines what he considers ``the highest 
     compliment you can give'' in the newspaper business.

[[Page S9465]]

       ``He was a hell of a good newspaper man,'' Stringer said, 
     ``and I think the community is going to miss him.''

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