Some people help and encourage you along life’s way, and for me one of those was Bill Minor who died Tuesday at 94.
The accolades and awards he received in a long career as a journalist have been well chronicled in books, documentaries and his obituary, so I won’t dwell on those.
What I recall most about Bill was how he befriended me when I was a fledgling reporter just starting my career at the Jackson State-Times, which went out of business in 1962 sending me to other locations.
Bill was the Mississippi correspondent for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which at the time had significant circulation in South Mississippi.
The late Kenneth Toler held the same position with the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, which had a large circulation in North Mississippi.
It was the heyday of newspaper journalism. Radio stations got most of their news from the Associated Press or United Press International, which in turn harvested news from newspapers, although the wire services had some aggressive reporters of their own.
Television was blossoming as a news medium, but there were no 24-hour cable channels. No social media on the internet, which didn’t exist.
Journalists like Minor and Toler commanded more respect than they would today.
One quick Ken Toler story:
In 1959 I was assigned for a couple of weeks to cover the gubernatorial race that featured Ross Barnett, the eventual winner, and Carroll Gartin in the second Democratic primary.
After a campaign event in Columbus I shared a hotel room with Toler in what was then a fine facility.
Toler had left a wakeup call for the next morning, and at that exact time there was a knock on the door. In walked a bellhop with a cup of coffee and a Commercial-Appeal for “Mr. Toler.” Nothing for me.
My relationship with Minor was closer and longer. It began when he set me up an interview for a job on the afternoon newspaper in New Orleans.
With Bill’s recommendation, I could have had the job if I really wanted it, but my wife and I didn’t want to leave Jackson and I put too high a figure on the salary it would require for me to move.
A couple years later we moved out of necessity.
After I began working in McComb in 1963, my friendship with Bill resumed as we often saw each other at press association meetings and when he came to McComb to cover an event.
We occasionally shared dinner at a press meeting or a social occasion. One in Biloxi is especially memorable.
My wife Virgie and I went with Bill and his wife Gloria to a swanky restaurant where, as was the case with many establishments on the Coast in those days, illegal activity openly occurred. Such things as gambling and whiskey sales were not legal in Mississippi in those days, but openly practiced most of the time on the Coast. Some of the seamier places featured strippers and, I suspect, prostitution. I think the Mafia had a hand in much of it.
As we entered the establishment Bill chose, we were greeted by someone in a suit who Bill knew and later described to me as “a local boy who made bad.” First I thought the guy was hugging Bill, then I realized he was frisking him to be sure he wasn’t carrying a camera.
The Times-Picayune, it turned out, had been doing some reporting on illegal activity on the Coast.
But after Bill explained we were there on pleasure, not business, we were welcomed and treated well.
I had a number of other good times with Bill, including playing golf with him.
One outing that comes to mind was attending a professional golf tournament with him in Madison County after he was already having mobility problems due to age and physical ailments.
The late Bob Brewer of Amite County accompanied us, and I enjoyed listening to those two members of “The Greatest Generation” reminisce about World War II experiences.
After the Times-Picayune closed its Mississippi bureau and stopped delivering papers in the state, Bill could have had any number of other jobs. He was an excellent reporter with numerous sources.
But he chose to stay in Mississippi and run a crusading weekly newspaper out of Jackson and, after it closed, he wrote columns almost up until he died.
An unabashed Democrat and liberal by Mississippi standards, his columns in later years offended some in Mississippi who lean to the right.
But he was a great journalist and a good friend.
