Robert W. Chowning, a longtime newspaperman and past president of the Arkansas Press Association, died Thursday at 93.
An official cause of death was unavailable.
Chowning worked for the Magnolia Banner-News for 33 years, retiring in 1991 as general manager and executive editor.
Before his employment at the Banner-News, he was an Army Air Force bomber during World War II and held various positions at several other Arkansas newspapers, including the Wynne Progress and the Forrest City Times-Herald. He also was publisher and co-owner of the West Memphis Daily Morning Sun.
Grandchildren Christopher Spencer and Mary Carol Pederson both have fond childhood memories of visiting newsrooms and press rooms.
"I remember going to the Banner-News as a child to visit him, and the smell and sight of the newspaper printing press," Pederson said. "He would show me how they set type, show me off to the staff, and I even got a metal bar of type of my name that he gave me."
Spencer also vividly recalls trips to the newspaper, where his grandfather showed him the lead pots used for melting metal slugs of type.
"He would let me go and pick out already used slugs of type and drop them in the pot. It was so cool to watch the words melt away."
Spencer credits his grandfather for his decision to forge a career in journalism. After graduating from Hendrix College with a degree in religious studies in 1997, Spencer wasn't sure what he wanted to do.
But Chowning had a ready suggestion.
"He said, 'Why don't you try your hand at writing at a newspaper?'" Spencer remembers.
He took his grandfather's words to heart and got a job as a features writer at the News-Times in El Dorado in 1998. Spencer later worked as a reporter for several years at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette before moving to Northwest Arkansas for a job at The Morning News. He now works for the University of Arkansas as a content strategist.
Spencer enjoyed the countless conversations he had with his grandfather over the years about the news business. "He just always had this sort of old-fashioned but totally current muckraker attitude about finding the truth and trying to use newspapers as a tool for that."
Pederson remembers a wide array of tales that Chowning enjoyed recounting for his grandchildren.
"He had countless stories that he loved to share about when he was in the newspaper business, different hot stories he covered on Arkansas politics and opportunities to reveal corruption, training pilots in the Army Air Force, and he and his wife's fun with directing Miss America pageants," she said.
In the 1950s, Chowning and his wife, Katie, were producer and director of the Miss America pageants in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. But he is most remembered for being a mentor and role model for many a journalist, including Pederson's husband, Jason Pederson of KATV, Channel 7.
"His first automobile was an old Ford Model T," Jason Pederson recalled. "He said, 'It wasn't much to look at, but it was good under the hood.'
"He was a man more concerned with performance than appearance. In an era where race was often an obstacle to opportunity, Bob helped launch the journalism careers of veteran KATV photojournalist Marcus McDonald and longtime state Capitol reporter James Jefferson. Both remember him as a good man. And that he was."
Chowning enjoyed being involved in the community, family members said. He co-founded the Wynne Chamber of Commerce and Wynne Lions Club, and was president of the Magnolia Rotary Club and Magnolia Chamber of Commerce Industrial Club.
Chowning, who attended First United Methodist Church, also was named Magnolia Citizen of the Year. For four years, he wrote a human-interest column -- "Casual Chat" -- that ran on the front page of the Banner News.
His daughter, Diane Delone, said Chowning remained interested and passionate about news and current events his entire life, even after entering his 90s.
"I have such great memories of having discussions about politics and world events with my dad when I was a young teenager," she recalled.
"He treated my opinions with respect, even at that young age, and it was an illustration of how much he cared for me and invested in my life. He was a man of great integrity, honor and a true family man who delighted in being around his loved ones."
Throughout his life, Chowning made it a point to treat people with respect, his family members agree. For those who saw him as a mentor in journalism, this kindness made an impression.
Jason Pederson said, "Bob was always positive. Always. He told me even at a young age he was talkative and inquisitive, good qualities for a person who would spend a career in journalism. A grown man had heard enough out of him one day and said, 'Oh be quiet. What do you know? You don't know anything.'"
"Bob said one thing he did know was how that comment made him feel. He says he vowed to always use his words to make people feel the opposite: to encourage, compliment and comfort. Anyone who crossed paths with Bob in the 90 years that followed that promise can tell you: he made good on it."
State Desk on 12/20/2013