Edwin Murray Eakin

WHEREAS Edwin Murray Eakin, a native Texan born in Chilton, August 12, 1927, who departed this life in Austin on February 20, 2002, was a long time member and friend in the East Texas Historical Association; and

WHEREAS, Ed Eakin graduated from Baylor University with a degree in journalism, worked a number of Texas newspapers including the Waco News-Tribune, the El Campo News, and the Irving News, became part owner of other newspapers including the Quanah Tribune Chief, and weekly papers in Clarendon, Chillicothe, and Saginaw, and was an individual member of the Texas Press Association; and

WHEREAS, Ed Eakin founded Eakin Press in 1979 and nurtured it into the largest privately owned press in Texas; and

WHEREAS, Ed Eakin published more than one hundred books per year, and a total of more than one thousand titles, most of which focused on the history, stories, and folklore of Texas; and

WHEREAS, Ed Eakin, through his press, brought to the people of Texas scores of books on their history that might otherwise never have been published, and encouraged and abetted those who knew the history of the Lone Star State to tell their stories; and

WHEREAS, Ed Eakin frequently attended and regularly exhibited at the meetings of the East Texas Historical Association, and was a valued friend of the Association and of all Texas historians;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the membership of the East Texas Historical Association laments the passing of this friend and colleague on February 20, 2002, extends its sympathy to his family and friends; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the minutes of the Annual Meeting and another presented as is appropriate to the family of Ed Eakin, that they may know of the esteem and affection in which he is yet held by all.

APPROVED THIS TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2002.

Cary Wintz, Chair, Resolutions, 2001-2002

Kenneth E. Hendrickson, President, 2001-2002

Archie P. McDonald, Executive Director