The Lucas Legacy
“Over the hills and trees yonder…..you folks can see our courthouse clock. As we have played our show for you, it has ticked the minutes away…….just as it has ticked whole days, whole months, and whole years from the lives of us…..here in Albany.”
The poetic words of the beloved Robert Nail mark the epilogue of each performance of the Fort Griffin Fandangle. It describes in just a few words the history of our town, the significance to our community, and the solace each citizen receives from those magical bells of our majestic courthouse clock.
But, before there was a courthouse clock, before there was an Albany, and about the time Shackelford County was founded……there has been another Zephyr on the plains that chronicled the minutes, days, months and years here in this part of Texas. That Zephyr continues today 149 years later, The Albany News.
For the past 48 years, Donnie and Melinda Viertel Lucas have served as owners, publishers, and editors of The Albany News, the longest tenure of any owner, publisher, and editor in the storied history of the “Oldest Journalistic Venture West of the Brazos.” November 7, 2024 marks the end of the Lucas era at The Albany News. Begun in April 1977, it undoubtedly will be the standard by which all eras in annuals of Texas weekly papers will be judged.
I had the privilege to be a close observer of this era. While I must give full disclosure (Donnie and Melinda are two of my dearest friends), my love for them individually does not skew my admiration of them professionally……before I was a banker or an oil producer……I was a journalist. I edited my high school and college newspapers. I majored in college in journalism and photography. I worked at The Albany News while attending college and returned for three years after college, edited one of the largest bi-weekly papers in Texas for short while, and have always picked up, reviewed, read, and critiqued small papers throughout the state……I was working part-time at the News when Donnie moved to Albany in 1976…….I was with him the day he bought the paper. Off and on for the next 48 years, I worked for him part-time. No, and I repeat not one, weekly paper in the size category of The Albany News is better written, more professionally designed, has greater effective advertising content and layout, contains superior photographs or editorial content……the citizens of Shackelford County and the subscribers of The Albany News have been blessed by the high standard newspaper produced by the Lucases for close to five decades.
A phenomenal achievement for any couple. Especially considering that in a small weekly paper, the title owner, publisher, and editor means you do all things in order to get the next edition to the press. You may begin the day making address changes for subscriptions, you pick up the mail midmorning and juggle the enviable bills with those nuggets of advertising payments and insert orders, you then head out for one of the weekly luncheon clubs to gather the latest news, back to the office in time to meet with a new bride and her mom to discuss the wedding announcement they would like published, make a stop at the local funeral home for an obituary, pivot late afternoon and head to the never season ending sports game for a picture, home for a sandwich, then off to the city council or school board meetings that last long past the kids’ bedtime. That’s a Monday, and it continues each day till publication on Thursday. Then the cycle begins again……51 weeks per year and combined with special editions during Christmas, Spring and Fall Visitors Guides, Graduation, and Fandangle……The Lucases publish at least 55 editions annually.
Donnie and Melinda did not do it haphazardly or without professionalism. If you have any doubt about the excellence of the product that they publish weekly……go look at any paper within 150 miles of Albany. The Texas Press Association and the West Texas Press Association saw that excellence. They were awarded 1,2,3 places in News Writing, Sports, Feature Writing, Headline Writing, Photography and Advertising by the two organizations every year for several decades, until they stopped entering contests awhile back. The Texas Press Association awarded their prestigious Sweepstake Award to the Lucases on many occasions citing it as the “Best Weekly Newspaper in Texas.”
“Without or with offense to friend or foe we sketch your world exactly as it goes” –Byron.
Editors and publishers of newspapers in small towns walk a tightrope each day. They have an obligation whose very foundation is the First Amendment of the Constitution to report the news of the community truly. Donnie and Melinda have performed that journalistic duty excellently. Open meeting laws were always followed locally as either one of the Lucases, or occasionally one of their employees, would attend each school board, city council, commissioners court, and hospital board meeting for 48 years. Close to 3,000 meetings by my count……“without or with offense to friend or foe”……detailing sheriff department and fire calls, arrest, and county court reports……court cases, deaths, bank failures, births, weddings, elections, victories and defeats “they sketched your world exactly as it goes……Donnie and Melinda were always positive and supportive of the community, our schools, government institutions and most of all, our citizens. They understood the importance of their duty to preserve journalistic integrity but never lost sight of the importance of community. They never injected any biases in their stories or reports; they reported the news as it unfolded and allowed their readers to draw their own conclusions. Journalism as it was taught to them, a press that was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. I think most every news organization in America could use a dose of the Lucases’ brand of journalistic integrity.
Every successful business has to have vision, hard work, and a lot of luck. The Lucases are no exception. Donnie provided the vision. He sought to publish the most well-written, best designed, highest quality modern weekly paper in Texas. He stayed active in trade organizations and associations. As a visionary, Donne had foresight and imagination. He was idealistic, entrepreneurial, and creative. He was effective in communication and problem solving. A masterful teacher, he was also very innovative, always looking for higher quality, more efficient productivity, and advanced technology. During his tenure as the publisher, the industry went from Linotype machines, to key punch, to main frame computers, to desktops. Papers were printed locally, then regionally, and now many miles away. Cameras went from single lens reflex to digital. Color was added to pictures and copy. Donnie was on the leading edge of these changes.
Melinda provided lots of hard work. Not that Donnie did not work hard, far from it. My Max Preps count is that Donnie roamed the sidelines at 613 Albany Lion varsity football games and over 700 junior high and JV football contests in 48 years. That’s a lot of walking and focusing. I cannot even begin to fathom the number of suppers Donnie missed as he went to the school to get a picture of a Lion basketball, Little League baseball or Lady Lion volleyball contest. Publishing and editing a quality weekly paper is a team effort, and Donnie certainly contributed much work to achieve the end result.
But, make no mistake, Melinda has to be the most industrious, diligent, dedicated, persevering, committed, tenacious, tireless, and earnest editor The Albany News has ever had in its illustrious history. Edgar Rye (Editor 1880-83) supervised the building of the Shackelford County Courthouse, and Dick McCarty (Editor 1917-39) had Albany’s primary water source, a nearby lake, named after him. Both were certainly well regarded editors of The Albany News by our citizens. While I did not know either man, I doubt they put in the hours, days, and years that Melinda spent chronicling the days, months, and years of the lives of the citizens of Albany and Shackelford County.
Most weeks, Melinda would stay up overnight from Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon getting the paper to press and out the door to the mail. I never understood how an individual could function with less sleep than was required by most of the other humans in the world, but Melinda has done it for over 4 decades, while still finding time to serve in various capacities at her church, raise 3 beautiful daughters, and always being of sweet spirit.
So we established that the Lucases were gifted with vision and hard work…..but what about the third ingredient…..Luck…..
Well, all I can say about that is this…..the Lord knew what he was doing when he put Donnie and Melinda together. A perfect match, the Ying and Yang. Luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity. Donnie and Melinda’s parents instilled in both of them character, responsibility, kindness, dutifulness, accountability, and love of their fellow man. Both were prepared by their parents to find like individuals and build a life. Donnie and Melinda met in a journalism class in 1973 at Angelo State. They began dating in 1975. Donnie graduated in 1976 from ASU and obtained a job as an English teacher in Melinda’s hometown at Albany High School.
Preparation for both of them was still underway till the spring of 1977. That’s when a lifetime of preparation met an incredible opportunity for a young couple. The Albany News became FOR SALE. Some would call that luck. But the truth is that’s when an opportunity met a lifetime of preparation. The paper was on the market only days.
Donnie saw an opportunity and was prepared and acquired The Albany News, with Melinda already on the staff. She had been working for the previous owner since her college graduation in December 1976. Their professional partnership at The Albany News began that April.
Donnie and Melinda were married in 1979. I was his best man. Their professional partnership then merged into a personal partnership, both a result of preparation meeting opportunity. Now that is what I call luck.
At my age, I am more reflective. I am also much more appreciative of those things that I would describe as unique. I refer to the Lucases as “unicorns.” Remarkable individuals, special traditions, given traits and talents, or singular events that are themselves special…..one of a kind. Those things that are set apart…..like “unicorns.”
Donnie and Melinda Lucas are such individuals. Their dedication to our community and their steadfast chronicling of the lives of the citizens of Shackelford County for almost 50 years is remarkable. Unicorns…..that is what they are…..
“As we have played this show in Albany for the past 50 years, that courthouse clock has ticked the minutes away…..just as it has ticked whole days, whole months, and whole years from the lives of us…..here in Albany”…..and as each of those minutes ticked away into whole days, whole months, and whole years, those moments have been chronicled in The Albany News, the Oldest Journalistic Venture West of the Brazos, led by two unique individuals….. “unicorns”…..Donnie and Melinda Lucas ” –MJP
