- Charles E. Maple
-
Charles Edward Maple Born June 9, 1932
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma, USADied November 22, 2006 (aged 74)
Pearsall, Frio County, TexasResidence (1) Claude, Texas
(5) Jacksonville, Texas
(2) Amarillo, Texas
(3) Murfreesboro, Arkansas
(4) Minden, LouisianaAlma mater Texas Tech University Occupation Journalist
State parks system administrator
Chamber of commerce officialReligion United Methodist Spouse Claudia Lucille Martin Maple (1955-2006, his death) Children Carol Maple Chatfield
Ted M. Maple
David Maple
Mark E. MapleCharles Edward Maple, known as Charlie Maple (June 9, 1932–November 22, 2006),[1] was a journalist, chamber of commerce official, and state parks executive during the second half of the 20th century in the four-state region of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.
Contents
Early years, education, military
Maple was born in Oklahoma City to Clifford E. and Drusilla Maple. His family moved to Claude in the Texas Panhandle in 1948, and he graduated two years later from Claude High School. He attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock from 1950–1954, when he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a commission in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. His Army service extended from 1954-1956 at Fort Lee, Virginia, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He was promoted to first lieutenant while on active duty as the battalion operations and training officer at Fort. Bragg. From 1956-1981, Maple was also a captain in the reserves until he resigned his commission. [2]
Journalism
After military duties, Maple returned to West Texas to serve as the fire and police reporter for the Amarillo Globe-Times. He also worked for the Brownfield News in Brownfield in Terry County, Texas, and was the editor and publisher in the late 1950s of the weekly Pike County News in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. He left Murfreesboro in November 1960 to become the news editor of the Minden Press-Herald in Minden, Louisiana, under publisher Tom Colten.[3]The Press-Herald was launched in July 1966 as a daily from the previous weeklies, the Minden Press and the Minden Herald. During Maple's tenure, the separate Press and Herald weeklies won statewide awards in 1965.[4] Maple had been political editor of both Minden weeklies. His last job in journalism was as the associate editor and the state editor, the individual in charge of regional reporting, of the now Gannett publication, Shreveport Times, but his obituary does not give his date of service in Shreveport.[2]
Chamber of commerce
From October 1, 1966, to August 9, 1971, Maple was the executive director of the chamber of commerce in Minden, Louisiana. In that capacity he worked on the city capital improvement program, adopted by voters in a special election held in the spring of 1967. The program entailed a one-cent municipal sales tax increase. The Minden chamber under Maple was voted the first "accredited" body in Louisiana.[5] He thereafter accepted the same position in Sapulpa, near Tulsa, Oklahoma.[6]
Maples assumed the chamber position in Minden after nearly six years with The Press and The Herald. The position opened when Tom Colten, who had sold the newspaper in 1965 and became the chamber director, resigned in 1966 to run, successfully, for mayor of Minden.[7] From August 1977 to September 1980, Maple was president of the chamber inn Jacksonville, Texas.[2][8]
In civic affairs, Maple was a long-time promoter of the Boy Scouts of America. In his early years, he was active in the Jaycees. He was a member of the United Methodist denomination. He served on the Minden Beautification Council.[9]
Texas State Railroad
In 1981, Maple joined the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as the assistant superintendent of the Texas State Railroad, a heritage railroad between Rusk in Cherokee County and Palestine (pronounced PAL ES TEEN) in Anderson County. After twelve years, health issues compelled his retirement from the parks system.[2] A year after Maple's death, the Texas State Railroad, which consistently failed to turn a profit, was leased for operation by American Heritage Railway.[10]
Later years and family
Maple was married for fifty-one years to the former Claudia Lucille Martin (July 31, 1935–July 15, 2009),[1] the daughter of Claude Mayall Martin and the former Lois Donaldson. A native Texan, she graduated in 1952 from Johnson City High School in Johnson City, Texas. She met her husband at Texas Tech, where she also procured a degree in journalism and thereafter taught English and journalism at Mena High School in Mena, Arkansas, prior to becoming a kindergarten teacher at both private Christian and public schools for two decades.[11]
At the time of their deaths, he from a long illness, and she from a short fight with liver cancer, the Maples were residing in Pearsall, the seat of Frio County south of San Antonio. They had one daughter, Carol Maple Chatfield and husband, David, then of Houston; three sons, David Maple and wife, Darla, of Marble Falls, Texas, Mark E. Maple (born 1962) and wife, Lisa, of Bullard, Texas, and Ted Martin Maple (born 1965) and wife, Corina, of Pearsall, and ten grandchildren.[11] Charles Maple also had a stepmother, the late Esther Giles Maple, and a surviving stepsister, Gail B. Deaton (born 1942) of Portales, New Mexico,[2]
The couple is interred at Ebenezer Cemetery near Kosse in Limestone County in east Texas.[11] Mrs. Maple had adopted the cemetery, recorded its history, and worked to procure a state historical marker at the gate. Ebenezer, also known as Headsville Cemetery, dates to 1865.[12]
References
- ^ a b "Social Security Death Index". ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Charles E. Maple". Minden Press-Herald, November 29, 2006. http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1300&Itemid=94. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ^ "Charles E. Maple of Claude, Texas, Named News Editor of Press-Herald", Minden Press, November 14, 1960, p. 1
- ^ Minden Press-Herald, July 18, 1966, p. 1
- ^ "Maple to Leave Local Chamber", Minden Press-Herald, August 9, 1971, p. 1
- ^ The Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce does not have the date that Maples left that organization.
- ^ Minden Press-Herald, August 1, 1966, p. 1
- ^ Confirmed by the Jacksonville, Texas, Chamber of Commerce
- ^ Minden Press-Herald, August 1, 1966, p. 1
- ^ "The Texas State Railroad". winwaed.com. http://www.winwaed.com/rail/texas/state_railroad.shtml. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Claudia Maple". hometowntimes.com. http://www.hometowntimes.com/sanantoniohometimes/news50000/obituaries/claudia-maple.shtml. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ "Ebenezer of Headsville Cemetery". rootsweb.ancestry.com. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txrober2/EBENEZERCEMETERY.htm. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
Categories:- 1932 births
- 2006 deaths
- American newspaper people
- Journalists from Louisiana
- People from Armstrong County, Texas
- People from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- People from Pike County, Arkansas
- People from Minden, Louisiana
- People from Shreveport, Louisiana
- People from Cherokee County, Texas
- People from Frio County, Texas
- American Methodists
- Texas Tech University alumni
- United States Army officers
- People associated with the Boy Scouts of America
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