May 21, 2009 — Claremore has lost one of its favorite sons.

Dave Story, retired publisher of the Claremore Daily Progress, died Wednesday evening, following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

Not since the likes of Will Rogers has a personality carried such a vibrant and influential voice from Northeast Oklahoma. He served as Daily Progress publisher from 1986 until he retired in 2006.

Story, 78, a veteran Oklahoma newspaper editor, publisher, and columnist, was born in the small rural community near Lost Lake in the northern part of Tunica County, Miss., on July 22, 1930. He was born James David Story, the fifth son and eighth child of Benjamin and Mary Bruce Story.

Counting his military service, Story’s newspaper career spans 51 years, 31 of them as a community newspaper publisher with the Donrey Media Group.

In 1986 when the Claremore Progress was acquired by Donrey from Ed Livermore Sr., Story was appointed by Donrey founder and owner, the late Donald W. Reynolds, to be newspaper’s publisher.

In July 1998 when Donrey sold its Oklahoma newspapers to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., Story remained with the Claremore Progress as publisher, where he was one of Oklahoma’s oldest active publishers.

In 37 years as an Oklahoma publisher, newspapers under Story’s leadership won 180 United Press, Associated Press and Oklahoma Press Association awards, many of them for his personal columns and editorials.

Story was married to Claudia Ann Thomas of Liberal, Kan., in 1978. They have a daughter, Tamra Beth.

During his Oklahoma career, Story served on a number of state boards and commissions under appointment by five different governors.

While at Guymon, he was named to the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority by Governor David Boren. At the time, OETA could be viewed in only a the peripheral area of central Oklahoma. By 1979 OETA’s signal had been expanded by microwave to reach 96 percent of the state.

In 1984 he was reappointed to a second 8-year term by Governor George Nigh.

Also during the late 70s and early 80s he held a position as the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce’s “Key Man” in Northwestern Oklahoma.

In 1995 the Oklahoma Press Association honored Story with its coveted Beachy Musselman Award for outstanding contribution to newspaper journalism.

In 1997 he was named to the Jefferson Fellowship at Rogers University, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any individual by the University. The award cited his efforts toward the transition of the two-year school into a four-year, degree granting institution.

Raised in Mississippi Delta Cotton Country, Story got his first taste of journalism as editor of his high school newspaper as a 16-year-old sophomore at Lula-Rich Consolidated High School in Lula, Miss.

One of his duties as editor of the paper was to be the school’s stringer for the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

The first news item he wrote that made print was an account of the Lula-Rich Panthers defeating the Friars Point Indians 22-18 in basketball. It is only coincidence that Story had scored 14 of Lula’s 22 points.

The summer following his sophomore year, in 1945, Story worked as a copy boy in the sports department of the Commercial Appeal. He became and avid reader and fan of Walter Stewart, then the Appeal’s widely known and respected sports editor.

Story worked two summers as a copy boy and continued as editor of the school paper until graduation in 1947.

Although he did not pursue a journalism degree, he claimed to have never earned a pay check in any other field of work.

Even while serving in the U. S. Air Force, Story was a public information specialist and military newspaper editor at several Strategic Air Command bases. During his career, worked for newspapers in Topeka, Little Rock and Anchorage, Alaska, and once owned a weekly at Jacksonville, Ark.

Story came to Oklahoma in 1961 to be managing editor of the semi-weekly Lindsay News, the state’s first fully-offset newspaper.

During his four year tenure, the Lindsay News won three Sweepstakes trophies in the Oklahoma Better Newspaper contests.

He moved to Frederick, Okla., in 1966 and was editor of the Daily Leader when it was acquired by Donrey Media Group in October, 1967. He converted the Daily Leader from hot metal to offset in the following spring.

He remained as publisher of the Daily Leader until moving to Guymon in 1975 to serve the Daily Herald in the same capacity for the next 11 years.

Services are pending through Musgrove-Merriott-Smith Funeral Service & Crematory of Claremore.