Dear Editor,
Just read obituary for Louis Elmer “Bud” Black.
Bud and his brother, Bob, were both classsmates of mine, and we all graduated from Great Bend High School in 1949. At our 60th class reunion Bud finally solved a long time mystery at our class reunion banquet. He and Bob were not twins as many of us suspected, but separated in age by five years!
Bud enlisted in the Navy and then came back after World War II to finish high school with his younger brother. We were in the Kansas National Guard together for several years, before we moved to Hillsboro, Texas.
As a side note, I started my 46 years and 4 months newspaper career, on Jan. 1, 1950 at the Great Bend Tribune and worked in circulation and advertising for nine years and three months before buying a small daily paper in Texas as a partner with the former owners of the Tribune.
I was a publisher at 28 years of age and managed six different papers until I retired as the fourth publisher of the 40,000 daily circulation Yakima Herald Republic, and also as a colonel in the United States Army Reserve after 32 years service in the National Guard and Army Reserve service.
James Barnhill,
Yakima, Wash.