Witten Hartwell “Wit” Ledbetter (1926-1980)

LEDBETTER, BROWER, SCHMALBACH

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:13

From Nevada Evening Journal February 1, 1980 (page 1)

Long newspaper career included 14 years in Nevada

A master columnist, distinguished photographer, career newspaperman and familiar figure around Nevada for some 14 years, Wit Ledbetter, 53, died Wednesday, Jan. 30, after suffering a heart attack on a tennis court in South St. Louis County, Missouri. He was rushed to St. Anthony's Hospital, where attempts to revive him failed.

Witten Hartwell Ledbetter was born Dec. 15, 1926 in Carterville, Mo., to parents Frank and Letha Ledbetter. Better known by most as Wit or W. H. Ledbetter spent two years in the Navy until 1946.

He attended Mercer University, Macon, Ga.; Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.; the University of Rochester, New York; Central College, Fayette, Mo.; and did graduate studied at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

On May 7, 1949, he married Anne Brower in Chillicothe, Mo. The couple's first home was Mounds, Ill., where Ledbetter and his father, Frank Ledbetter, bought the Mounds Independent, a weekly newspaper in southern Illinois. He served as publisher of the Mounds Independent for two years before selling the weekly and moving the La Plata, Mo., in 1951.

In La Plata, Ledbetter worked as editor of La Plata Home Press for seven years, during whichtime the newspaper was judged one of Missouri's six best Class B weeklies of 1958.

The father-son combination of Frank and Wit Ledbetter seemed the normal course of events. The senior Ledbetter, levaing the Navy in 1919, entered the newspaper business with the Sikeston (Mo.) Herald. Frank Ledbetter also worked for Cape Giradeau, Mo., daily; the Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; the Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Ark.; and the Trenton (Mo.) Herald. In 1923, he bought the Carterville (Ill.) Herald. In the years that followed, the elder Ledbetter added the Mound City (Ill.) Pulaski Enterprise and the newspaper in Mounds.

In 1958, Frank and Wit Ledbetter purchased the Nevada Journal from Don Hall ad Dean and Marjorie Carey.

While publisher of the Journal, Wit Ledbetter was twice named Master Columnist of the year by Iowa Newsmen for his personal column, "Quotes And Unquotes." He was also the recipient of several awards for outstanding news photography.

Ledbetter sold the Nevada Evening Journal to Hammell Newspapers in 1972 and moved to Farmington, Mo., inn 1973. He bought the city's weekly newspaper, the Farmington Press, from Mrs. Marie Stewart, and changed it to a twice-weekly newspaper. In June of 1978, Ledbetter transformed the newspaper to a daily, referring to it as the Farmington Hometown Daily. He remained editor and publisher of Farmington newspaper until Dec. 1, 1977, when he sold it to Smith Newspapers Inc., Fort Payne, Ala., which assigned current publisher Craig Watkins to the position.

A distinguished community leader, Ledbetter served as president of chambers of commerce in Nevada, La Plata and Farmington. He was elected mayor of Farmington in April of 1979. Ledbetters other affiliations included the St. Francois County Country Club, the Optimist Club, the Kiwanis Club and the Farmington Community Orchestra. He was a member of the Memorial Methodist Church.

The funeral will be Saturday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m. at Memorial Methodist Church in Farmington. Drs. Maxwell Teeter and William Allen will officiate. burial will be in Hillview Memorial Gardens, Farmington. Cozean's Funeral Home, Farmington, is in charge of arrangements.

He is survived by his wife, Anne, Farmington; two sons, Matthew, 26, Farmington, and Michael, 22, Kirksville, Mo.; and one daughter, Debi (Mrs. Skip) Schmalbach, 28, El Paso, Texas.