Steven Hanley, who parlayed a lifelong interest in history and a voluminous postcard collection into an enduring newspaper feature, has died. He was 62.
Hanley, a Little Rock resident whose name graced the feature, Arkansas postcard past, for much of its nearly 30-year run in the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also wrote or co-wrote a dozen books, most recently Arky: The Saga of the USS Arkansas, a history of the U.S. Navy battleship that bore the state's name.
Steven Hanley was alone at the time of his death, which was believed from natural causes on Friday, his brother, Ray Hanley, said Monday.
A native of Malvern, Steven Hanley developed his interest in collecting postcards while attending Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in history. Between the brothers, their postcard collection totals about 25,000, all from Arkansas.
Steven Hanley worked at Arkansas Children's Hospital for about 20 years before he took a disability retirement, Ray Hanley said. Steven Hanley wrote the first history of the hospital, his brother said.
Ray Hanley said he got the idea for Arkansas postcard past and persuaded the Arkansas Gazette to run the feature to help mark the state's sesquicentennial in 1986. Steven Hanley helped with the research and writing and took over editorial control after the Gazette asked that the feature continue, Ray Hanley said.
With the exception of a weeklong hiatus after the Gazette closed in 1991 and before the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette picked it up, the feature has run five days a week for 29 years, Ray Hanley said.
Both Ray Hanley and newspaper executives said Monday that they expect the feature to continue after Steven Hanley's latest submissions are exhausted on Sept. 3.
Metro on 08/18/2015