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…
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
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.