Updated: 06 Sep 2009

[ Home ] [ Index ] [ Back ]

May 31, 1992
Sapulpa Herald
Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma

RICHARD CALDWELL

Richard Marshall Caldwell, managing editor and directing news editor of the Sapulpa Herald from 1927 until 1942, died Thursday in Stillwater at the age of 87.

Services will be held at 2 pm Monday at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church officiated by the Rev. Robert Fellows.

Burial will be in Fairlawn Cemetery under the direction of Strode Funeral Home.

Caldwell was born Dec 14, 1904, in Prescott, Ark., one of seven children of John and Martha Marshall Caldwell. His early education was in private and public schools and continued his schooling in Oklahoma until he was an honor graduate at Hugh High School in 1922.

He and his wife, Mary, married Dec 28, 1927 in Sapulpa. She was the daughter of Judge Gaylord Reed Wilcox of Creek County.

He earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and English from the University of Oklahoma in 1926 and a masters of arts degree in journalism from Oklahoma State University in 1948.

He did graduate study at Columbia University during the summers between 1944 and 1946 and participated in special studies at seminars in Mexico, the International Institute of Study in Honduras and Peru.

Caldwell’s other professional positions include the Texas Cotton Cooperative Association in Dallas in 1926 and assistant city editor of the Tulsa Tribune from 1942-44.

He joined the OSU faculty in 1944 as assistant professor and later associate professor of Journalism and worked with the late OSU President Dr. Henry G. Bennett in college publicity. He was a public information advisor and public relations specialist and was on special administrative assignments along with professional class schedules from 1944-50.

Also during 1944-50 Caldwell was consulting and compilations editor of Oklahoma Cotton Grower.

He was the winner of the International Essay Award in the mid-50’s sponsored by the Memphis Cotton Trade Journal during their annual banquet.

Caldwell was among the few Midwestern journalists invited by New York Gov. tom Dewey to participate in charting his presidential campaign in a series of seminars.

Caldwell is listed in Oklahoma’s handbook of writers and journalists; wrote for magazines, syndication’s and was a correspondent for the United Press. He wrote in-state and our-of- state features stories and Sunday supplements for more then 20 years.

Working with local and civic programs, he and his wife were among those to set up an early-day working cancer research program in the Stillwater area.

Caldwell was widely known for his personality profiles.

His other interest included international travel, gardening, interior design, traditional furnishings and genealogy.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Potter Caldwell in 1970, four sisters and two brothers.

Survivors include two daughters, Mrs. John W. Jewett, Stillwater, and Mrs. William N. Yeats, Broomall, Pa.; five granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.