One of
Hugo and southeast Oklahoma's most colorful figures, W.E. (Bill) Schooler, 89,
died late Saturday night at Memorial Hospital where he had been a patient the
past several weeks. He was the former editor and publisher of The Hugo Daily
News and the Husonian Democrat, the fore runner of the Present Choctaw County
Weekly.
Services were
at 10 o'clock this morning at the First Presbyterian Church. The rites were
conducted by Rev. Clayton Forthman and Rev. Blakely Harrison, and burial was
in Mount Olivet cemetery.
Lampton
Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
In addition
to his newspaper interests here Mr. Schooler was a longtime civic leader and
one of the original owners of radio station KIHN.
He published
The Hugo Daily News and The Husonian Democrat 35 years before retiring.
Mr. Schooler
was born Dec. 1, 1878, at Glasgow, Kentucky, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis E. Schooler. He had lived here since 1902.
He was a past
district governor of Lions International and had a 47 year perfect attendance
record at Lions' meetings before his recent illness.
Mr. Schooler
and his brothers, Ben and the late T.E. and A.E. Schooler, built and operated
Hugo's first telephone system which they sold in 1906. He was a member of the
Odd-fellows Lodge and Woodmen of the World. he was also a life member of the
Choctaw County Chamber of Commerce and had served as a member of the session
of the First Presbyterian Church.
Mr.
[unreadable] presidential elector in 1948, and was secretary of the Choctaw
county election board for 23 years. During World War I, he was an overseas
director for the Young Men's Christian Association.
He was a
charter member of the Red River Valley Association for flood control and
navigation, serving as a state vice president.
Mr. Schooler
had studied law and served as justice of the peace by appointment from 1912 to
1914.
He was a
member of former Gov. Raymond Gary's Oklahoma Centennial Commission, was
instrumental in the establishment of Schooler Lake which was named for him,
and had a long record of service to Goodland Presbyterian Children's Home.
He was also
an Associate Member of the Hugo Jaycees.
Survivors
include his wife, Billie, whom he married Oct. 4, 1931; a son, Roy, of Dallas;
a brother, Ben of Antlers; and a sister, Mrs. J.C. Moore of Shreveport, La.
