[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 21 (Thursday, February 4, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E114-E115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DEAN STONE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 4, 2016

  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, Dean Stone has served as Editor 
of The Daily Times in Maryville, Tennessee for more than six decades.
  Recently, he retired from his full-time position.
  As The Daily Times recounted in a tribute piece devoted to Dean, he 
oversaw and outlasted an industry that changed from ``hot type, to 
computer-generated type, to the internet.''
  Dean is the standard of journalistic fairness and integrity in my 
District and a towering figure in East Tennessee.
  Mr. Speaker, I call to the attention of my colleagues and other 
readers the tribute to Dean's career that ran in The Daily Times on 
December 27, 2015, and wish him well on his much-earned retirement.

  Stone, Fixture in Tennessee Journalism Since 1948, Retires From The 
                              Daily Times

                          (By Daryl Sullivan)

       H. Dean Stone has outlasted four owners and six publishers, 
     while seeing the news move from hot type, to computer-
     generated type, to the Internet, all the while recording 
     Blount County history.
       Stone will still be writing, but as 2015 comes to a close, 
     he is retiring from the newsroom--but not without having made 
     an indelible mark on Tennessee journalism and his community, 
     a mark that has earned him the title of editor emeritus at 
     The Daily Times.
       ``Dean Stone serves as an exemplar for all who are engaged 
     in community journalism,'' said Gregg Jones, president and 
     CEO of Jones Media Inc., owner of The Daily Times. ``Dean 
     never limited himself to merely leading the newsroom, but 
     served as a leader in community affairs. He understood, and 
     exemplified, that community journalism is best practiced when 
     one is immersed in the community one serves, and he has done 
     so--from Alcoa Kiwanis, to Great Smoky Mountains National 
     Park. I first met Dean Stone

[[Page E115]]

     decades ago when The Daily Times was owned and published by 
     the late, great Tutt Bradford. It didn't take me long to see 
     what a giant Dean was in terms of the passion he felt for his 
     beloved community and for good journalism. Dean became, and 
     will remain, one of Blount County's greatest treasures, and I 
     will always be proud to claim him as a friend for whom I have 
     great respect and affection.''
       ``It's hard to express how humbled and appreciative I am to 
     have had the opportunity to work with Dean, day in and day 
     out, the past five years,'' Publisher Carl Esposito said. 
     ``As he's done his entire career, he's contributed greatly to 
     our success during that period, and I'm grateful he'll 
     continue to contribute as editor emeritus. He's become not 
     only a valued and trusted colleague, but a great friend as 
     well.''
       Stone arrived at what was then The Maryville-Alcoa Daily 
     Times on June 19, 1948, but did not begin his full-time 
     journalism career until 1949, when he was named editor of the 
     paper's first Sunday edition. The Sunday edition was short-
     lived--published from February through June of that year--but 
     Stone, who was then named managing editor, began laying the 
     groundwork for a career that has spanned more than 66 years.


                           working journalist

       ``I've been very well blessed with the people I've been 
     associated with at The Times over the years,'' Stone said. 
     ``I've enjoyed my time here. This is my birthplace. It's my 
     home county.''
       As for his own personal success, he attributes that to a 
     trait many leaders with successful careers fields share.
       ``I feel blessed in that I've had a determination to work. 
     Now that comes not from seeking recognition, but from 
     achievement, knowing that I've done something worthwhile,'' 
     Stone said. ``I've received a lot of really nice 
     recognitions, but I worked because I feel like there's a need 
     for all humans to work and earn our keep. I'm thankful that 
     I've been driven by that all these years, and still am.''


                          newspaper of record

       Under his direction in 1953, The Maryville-Alcoa Times won 
     the University of Tennessee's State Press award for Public 
     Service. Since then, it has captured literally hundreds of 
     state and regional awards.
       In 1955, Tutt S. Bradford became the fifth owner of Blount 
     County's newspaper of record, and Stone was there to greet 
     him.
       In 1988, Stone was named editor.
       In December 1989, the Bradford family sold The Daily Times 
     to Persis Corp., a Honolulu-based newspaper group headed by 
     Thurston Twigg-Smith, publisher of The Honolulu Advertiser. 
     Persis Corp. was also owner of The Knoxville Journal, what 
     was then a daily newspaper. Stone greeted them, and said 
     goodbye to both: The Journal ceased publication on New Years 
     Eve 1991, and Persis Corp. later sold The Daily Times to 
     Horvitz Newspapers, headed by Peter Horvitz.
       In 2010, Jones Media Inc., a Greeneville-based family 
     newspaper group with deep roots in Tennessee journalism, 
     purchased The Daily Times. Stone, with his deep appreciation 
     of community and history, was here to greet them.
       (In December 1989, when the company that owned The 
     Knoxville Journal purchased The Daily Times from the Bradford 
     family, the late Phyllis Cable greeted this journalist in the 
     newsroom with the words, ``I hope they know they bought a 
     tremendous amount of goodwill when they bought this 
     newspaper.'' I learned over the following years that a huge 
     amount of that goodwill came through the work of Dean Stone.)


                            years of service

       Over the years, Stone has served in numerous nonprofit 
     organizations, even outlasting some of them: president and 
     campaign chair of United Way of Blount County; president of 
     Maryville-Alcoa Jaycees and Alcoa Kiwanis; board member of 
     Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Little River Railroad 
     Museum, Sam Houston Schoolhouse, Hillbilly Homecoming, 
     Passion Play, Friendsville Academy, Townsend Chamber of 
     Commerce; deacon in Maryville First Baptist Church, and 
     chaired publication of a history of Chihowee Baptist 
     Association churches.
       He founded and co-founded numerous community organizations, 
     including the Empty Pantry Fund, in 1952, and Leadership 
     Blount, which in 2002 awarded him the Community Leadership 
     Award.
       Stone has received countless other awards, including Blount 
     County's Pride of Tennessee Award, the Distinguished Alumni 
     Award from the University of Oklahoma, special recognition 
     from the director of the National Park Service, and the 
     Tennessee Air National Guard's highest award, the Minuteman 
     Award.
       He was longtime chairman of the Tennessee Great Smoky 
     Mountains Park Commission, member of the Tennessee Historical 
     Commission, and the Southeastern Regional Council of the 
     National Parks Conservation Association. In 2003, Stone was 
     presented the Tennessee Outstanding Achievement Award for 
     service on state commissions, and in 2006 he was recognized 
     for his community service with a joint state Senate and House 
     resolution.


                           preserving history

       In 2007, he was awarded the East Tennessee Historical 
     Society's first Professional Achievement Award for his 
     ongoing preservation of local history, most recently through 
     a series of books entitled, ``Snapshots of Blount County 
     History.''
       During his journalism career, he has twice served as 
     president of Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors, is 
     a lifelong member of the Society of Professional Journalists, 
     a 50-year member of the Professional Photographers of 
     America, and author of a newspaper handbook, ``Newspapers: 
     Making the Most of the News Department.''
       And perhaps the award that says it all is this: In 2013, 
     Stone was in the inaugural group of those inducted into the 
     Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame.
       Stone once told an interviewer, ``To be perfectly honest 
     with you, probably the last thing I ever thought I'd do would 
     be to end up writing.''
       Quite an accomplishment for something that was the ``last 
     thing'' on his mind.

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