TEXAS TYPE KEN ESTEN COOKE
My father got to return to Denton, where he met his bride of 61 years and where he received his journalism degree for a third milestone.
At a “youthful 83,” dad was inducted into the Texas Press Foundation’s Hall of Fame at the Embassy Suites and Convention Center last week.
The Cooke family couldn’t be more proud for this recognition. A third-generation newspaper publisher, dad put his town and its newspaper above all else and set a high bar for community papers to reach.
In the 1970s, the paper went offset press and my dad’s design was ahead of its time.
More than anyone, dad instilled in me a desire to make all areas of the paper as good as possible and he encouraged all working for him to improve their skills in writing, photography, page design and more.
It’s all part of the package and we take seriously giving our best paper possible to the community each week.
Many in the state foundation’s hall of fame have built multi-property newspaper chains, or perhaps started in a small market, then went on to rise through the ranks at one of the large market newspapers.
My dad was never interested in that, though I have no doubt he could have achieved anything in journalism he had wanted.
For one thing, he didn’t want the debt associated with building “an empire.” He realized that the Rock-dale paper provided a solid middle-class living and he could raise his family in comfort, being content with that over any potential luxury.
Having been born during the Great Depression, that humble philosophy shaped him.
He also wanted to simply put out the best newspaper he could for his hometown.
He said his journalism degree from North Texas prepared him to cover “city council on Tuesday, school board on Wednesday, county commissioners on Thursday, a few feature stories in between, and go to the press box on Friday night.”
He credited learning the business end of newspapers from his father, W.H. “Bill” Cooke, who learned it from his father, John Esten Cooke.
Dad said he was happy to have grown up in “the sweat shop era” of letterpress newspaper production, before the days of air conditioning. He credited The Reporter’s many long-time employees, including Editor Mike Brown, who helped him put out a great paper.
Under dad, the paper has won scores of regional and statewide awards.
A fellow publisher, Mary Judson from the Port Aransas South Jetty, wrote: “Bill is an example and a pillar of newspaper publishers. He strives to do it right, and do it well in every edition, and he succeeded. Bill Cooke is a newspaper publisher we’d all like to be.”
When dad gave his acceptance speech, it was an extra bonus to have Charles Schieffer, retired CBS news correspondent, in the front row.
He gave a talk the following day and, having gotten his start in newspapers, remains friends with several Texas publishers from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Dad joked that he “appreciated the foundation lowering the bar to induct a country boy who never wanted to be anything else.”
When we left town, we drove dad and mom around the North Texas State University campus so they could relive memories.
They saw mom’s old dormitory where he waited downstairs to pick her up for dates.
They marveled at how the campus had grown. And they remembered the one-room garage apartment they rented after they were married.
No bigger than a single bedroom, the newlyweds were as happy as could be.
Behind every hall of fame man is a woman who supported him. In my mom’s case, she took part in the paper (and still does proofreading every Tuesday).
Dad said the first wonderful thing that happened to him in Denton was “a blind date with the prettiest, wittiest, smartest, cleverest freshman girl on campus - Miss Peggy Adams from Crandall, Texas.” Last month, they marked 61 years of marriage.
We Cooke children had an idyllic childhood, growing up knowing we were supported, encouraged, corrected when needed, and, most of all, loved.
We were so pleased to have seen dad honored for his journalism. There is no “hall of fame” for fathers, but if there were, dad would be in that one, too.
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