Lufkin Daily News City Editor Gary Willmon dies at 51

LUFKIN — Gary Willmon, city editor for The Lufkin Daily News and a career newsman and award-winning journalist, died Wednesday at a Lufkin hospital after a long battle with Chrohn's disease. He was 51.

(enlarge photo) City Editor Gary Willmon of The Lufkin Daily News died Wednesday following a long battle with Chrohn's disease. In 2006 he shared his story with readers, including the need for daily hydration to keep his system going.

Willmon's career spanned three decades, during which he won a number of awards. He began working for the LDN in 1975 as a freelancer and joined the sports staff full-time in 1976, and was editor until 1989. He moved to the Free Press in Diboll before returning to the LDN as city editor in 2005.

His co-workers, present and past, remember him as a consummate journalist with a rich sense of humor who brought the best of a by-gone era of the newspaper business to today's production.

Andy Adams, editor of the LDN, described Willmon as a great coworker and a fantastic person.

"He hired me when I was still in high school and was truly a mentor," Adams said. "I'm going to miss his work ethic a great deal, but I'm going to miss his friendship a lot more."

Willmon was working at the LDN when the paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for work by reporter Ken Herman and editor Joe Murray.

Herman, now at the Washington Bureau of Cox News Service, Wednesday said he remembered Willmon as a friendly and professional journalist who cared about his craft and his colleagues.

"He was most helpful to me in learning the ways of East Texas when I came to work there more than 30 years ago," Herman said. "And I'm sure he'll be missed by his friends and family, and the people in the community that he worked to serve for many years."

Murray, retired LDN editor and publisher, described Willmon as "as nice a guy as you'd ever know," a truly Christian gentleman, always smiling and seemingly youthful. Murray said he remembered watching him round up area basketball scores before zipping out stories on a manual typewriter, as one coach after another called in game details.

"Gary was like a maestro conducting a symphony orchestra, the way he pulled sports pages together — never mind that he was a one-man band and in a one-man sports department," Murray said.

The LDN used to be an afternoon newspaper, with noon deadlines. It was right in the middle of that busy time each day, according to Murray, that the noon train — the tracks directly across the street from the LDN — would announce its arrival with a loud whistle blast, nearly jarring him out of his chair. But to Willmon, it was literally music to his ears, he said.

"With perfect pitch, he would sing out with the same note, 'B-flat' he'd say, looking up from his typewriter just long enough to smile his big bright smile," Murray said.

Former reporter Bronwyn Turner, who worked at the LDN for about 20 years, said Willmon was one of those people who thought of others first, kind and good-natured.

"As far as reporters and journalists go, there just isn't any better," Turner said.

Another great love of Willmon's life, besides his wife Pattie, was the people and city of Diboll. He loved covering a variety of events, city government, school district meetings and particularly sports.

"I will always remember him as someone who was always upbeat and never said anything negative about anyone,'' said Edwin Quarles, a former coworker at the Diboll Free Press. ''His writing reflected that. He was quick to praise and reluctant to criticize, something we should all practice. I'll miss seeing him at games and miss the opportunities we had to meet up for lunch. One of my friends said a few months ago that Gary is a newspaper icon in Angelina County. I agree. God doesn't make them any better."

What wasn't as well-known is that together with Pattie he fostered many, many children, giving them guidance and direction, keeping close tabs with them as they grew into adulthood. He was also a gifted musician and keyboardist, and a devoted Christian who gave of his time and talents at youth camps and with campus ministries including Chi Alpha at Stephen F. Austin State University in his home city of Nacogdoches.

Gary Borders, publisher of the Longview News-Journal, was publisher at the LDN when Willmon returned in 2005. Borders said Willmon was as fine a human being as he had the privilege to work with, who despite having a debilitating medical condition was always upbeat, energetic and a hard worker.

"I had the upmost respect for his integrity and clear sense of what community journalism is all about," Borders said.

Willmon was open about his battle with Chrohn's disease, a condition that attacks the intestines and turns the body's immune system against itself. In 2006 he shared his personal battle in a feature article he penned for the LDN the disease.

Each day for him was a fight to live, requiring him to take in vast amounts of hydrating liquids 24 hours a day while managing the disease's effects.

Willmon's own closing thoughts in the story were a perfect description of how he chose to live his life — not in the shadow of his disease, but in spite of it.

He was blessed, he wrote, to have incredible doctors, pharmacists and support people — including Pattie, whom he described as an "awesome caregiver."

"But I'm proof you can live life to the fullest in spite of crazy circumstances," he wrote.

In addition to his beloved journalism, he enjoyed everything from parasailing in Hawaii, to riding roller coasters to pulling water slide duty at summer camp.

"Oh yeah, in between all that, I help bring you your daily newspaper," he wrote. "It's fun, and I'm sure glad I could be along for the ride."