Updated: 10 Oct 2008

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June 25, 1989
Sapulpa Herald
Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma

Glen Bayless

OKLAHOMA CITY — One of Oklahoma’s best-known reporters and a Sapulpa native Glen Robert Bayless died Friday at age 73 after a brief illness.

Services were at 11 a.m. Saturday at Our Lord’s Community Church in Oklahoma City where Mr. Bayless served as minister of visitation.

He was born in 1916, graduated from Sapulpa High School and received a degree in journalism in 1938 from the University of Oklahoma.

Arrangements were by Smith and Kernke Funeral Directors of Oklahoma City.

Survivors include wife Nelle Jane Bayless of the home; daughter Cynthia Gallois of Brisbane, Australia; son Glen R. Bayless Jr. of Sterling, Va.; stepdaughter Susan Wolf of Honolulu, Hawaii; step son Dick R. Wegener of Oklahoma City; brothers Jack Bayless of Ponca City, Okla., Fred Bayless of Albuquerque, N.M., Richard Bayless of Norman, Raymond Bayless of Tulsa, sisters Norma Barclay of Tulsa, Elizabeth Liggett of Houston, Texas; and five grandchildren.

He returned to Oklahoma City in 1972 and remained with the Oklahoman until his retirement.

Mr. Bayless had retired in 1986 from The Daily Oklahoman, where he was business news editor and senior economics writer. He was elected that year to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

Mr. Bayless began his journalism career in 1938 and served as its Oklahoma City correspondent and as an editor in Kansas City, before transferring to Washington, D.C., where he covered the U.S. Senate.

He has a long association with McGraw-Hill publications, serving as congressional correspondent for Newsweek and Business Week magazines and as managing editor of Business Week in Washington D.C.

Mr. Bayless also wrote for U.S. News and World Report, the National Association of Broadcasters, the American Bankers Association and the United States Catholic Conference.

Mr. Bayless was a member of the National Press Club and the University Club in Washington, D.C., the Society of Professional Journalists and the Oklahoma City Gridiron Club.