Happy birthday to us!

South Jetty marks 50 years of covering Port A



Members of the South Jetty newspaper staff and others pose for a photo in front of the newspaper’s first office in 1971, the first year of the newspaper’s existence. The office was in a portable building located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Alister Street and Avenue A, where Amelia’s Landing hotel is located now. Editor Steve Frishman can be seen standing in the back, at right. Standing to his right are Lillian Graham, who wasn’t an employee but assisted at times in the office; and an unidentified man. Standing in the middle row, from left, are an unidentified woman; Corky Furlow, a contributing writer; Suzanna Reeder, who shared the title of editor with Steve Frishman; Lexa Frishman, Steve Frishman’s then-wife, who wrote a column and handled various other duties; Ray Reeder, father of Suzanna Reeder; and Cyrus E. Newitt, a contributor. Standing in front are the Frishmans’ children, Susannah and Benjamin. Ben was hanging onto the collar of the family dog, Meg. Courtesy photo

Members of the South Jetty newspaper staff and others pose for a photo in front of the newspaper’s first office in 1971, the first year of the newspaper’s existence. The office was in a portable building located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Alister Street and Avenue A, where Amelia’s Landing hotel is located now. Editor Steve Frishman can be seen standing in the back, at right. Standing to his right are Lillian Graham, who wasn’t an employee but assisted at times in the office; and an unidentified man. Standing in the middle row, from left, are an unidentified woman; Corky Furlow, a contributing writer; Suzanna Reeder, who shared the title of editor with Steve Frishman; Lexa Frishman, Steve Frishman’s then-wife, who wrote a column and handled various other duties; Ray Reeder, father of Suzanna Reeder; and Cyrus E. Newitt, a contributor. Standing in front are the Frishmans’ children, Susannah and Benjamin. Ben was hanging onto the collar of the family dog, Meg. Courtesy photo

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The South Jetty, long the main source of local news in Port Aransas, celebrates its 50th birthday on Tuesday, June 29. That’s the date that the very first edition of the newspaper was published in 1971, back in the days when Richard Nixon was president, Port Aransas ferries carried only nine cars and the monthly rental cost of a three-bedroom house in town was a measly $150.

Half a century of chronicling life in Port Aransas has meant covering everything from hurricanes to city government to fishing tournaments to local schools and much more.

Started from scratch by Port Aransas residents, the weekly community newspaper today remains locally owned and is a thriving and award-winning publication with subscribers in nearly every state.

Over the years, the paper has performed crucially important work for Port Aransas, providing factual information to citizens to help them make informed decisions about matters ranging from multi-million dollar bond issues to where they might go to find redfish biting.

This was the front page of the first ever edition of the South Jetty, published on June 29, 1971. It was the brainchild of Ray Reeder, father of Suzanna Reeder. She and Steve Frishman were the first editors of the newspaper.

This was the front page of the first ever edition of the South Jetty, published on June 29, 1971. It was the brainchild of Ray Reeder, father of Suzanna Reeder. She and Steve Frishman were the first editors of the newspaper.

The South Jetty has supported the community also by sponsoring longstanding events such as Candidates’ Night, a voter education forum in which people running for city council, school board and the water district’s board of directors have answered questions on the issues.

Like other Port Aransas businesses, the newspaper also quietly has taken on various efforts that tend to draw together and bond the community, such as sponsoring Little League teams, art center exhibits and more.

“One thing about the South Jetty is, it is in a small town, and I really respect the fact that they sometimes have to report on something (difficult) that might even involve a friend in town, but they still report on it,” said Mike Hall, who has lived in Port Aransas since 1974 and is a longtime subscriber to the paper.

“The South Jetty’s integrity has been maintained the whole time I’ve been here,” said Hall, who is co-owner and general manager of the Family Center IGA, former Port Aransas City Council member and past president of the chamber of commerce in town. “They never put a slant on a story. They just tell it like it is.”

One of the South Jetty’s earliest locations was on Beach Street in the building now occupied by La Playa Mexican Grille.

One of the South Jetty’s earliest locations was on Beach Street in the building now occupied by La Playa Mexican Grille.

‘What a ride!’

Mary and Murray Judson have been the South Jetty’s owners for 40 of the 50 years the newspaper has been in existence.

“Wow, what a ride!” said Murray, whose title is publisher and CEO. “It’s been wonderful to chronicle the events – good and bad – of this small sleepy fishing village as it’s grown into a major tourist destination. I can’t wait to see where the South Jetty goes from here.”

Mary said the word “enjoy” doesn’t do justice to the experience of running the newspaper these 40 years.

“It has been an incredible, adventurous, joyous and, yes, sometimes painful, journey,” she said. “It has been challenging in a good way because my training as a journalist – from growing up in a newspaper family to the outstanding journalism professors I had at the University of Texas at Austin – is called into play on a daily basis,” said Mary, whose title is editor and publisher.

Publishers Mary and Murray Judson, and the office mascot, a yellow Labrador retriever named Bo, pose for a photo in the front of the South Jetty in the early 1990s at its 141 W. Cotter location. The newspaper moved last November to State Highway 361, but the building remains on Cotter where it is serving as a temporary gift shop to support the ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep) until the property is sold.

Publishers Mary and Murray Judson, and the office mascot, a yellow Labrador retriever named Bo, pose for a photo in the front of the South Jetty in the early 1990s at its 141 W. Cotter location. The newspaper moved last November to State Highway 361, but the building remains on Cotter where it is serving as a temporary gift shop to support the ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep) until the property is sold.

“That is because Port Aransas is an exciting place to be for a journalist – there are so many stories to be told,” she said. “I have had so much fun because of that, but also because of the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. That includes staff members who are dear to us, many of whom have moved away or moved on, yet remain friends.”

She said she has enjoyed her time with the newspaper also because those years have been rewarding.

“It makes me proud that the South Jetty has made a difference in the community as a reliable and accurate news source,” Mary said. “We saw that most recently with Hurricane Harvey, during which the South Jetty was a lifeline for residents and property owners desperate for Port Aransas-specific, accurate information. That is especially important in this era of social media where misinformation is so easily spread.”

Steve Frishman

Steve Frishman

She’s particularly grateful for the support of the community, “from subscribers to advertisers, because they are the backbone of any newspaper,” she said.

“With that kind of support, we can count on the South Jetty celebrating its centennial in 2071!”

Beginnings

In the years before the South Jetty was established, a smattering of newspapers were attempted in Port Aransas, without much success. None of them was around for long.

The South Jetty got started in 1971 by a 26-year-old man named Steve Frishman and a college student named Suzanna Reeder. Both lived in Port Aransas, and both would share the title of editor.

Steve was a graduate student studying geology at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute. Suzanna was a UT student studying business.

Suzanna, who still lives in Port Aransas today, said it was her father, Ray Reeder, who had the idea of establishing a newspaper in Port Aransas.

Suzanna Reeder

Suzanna Reeder

Ray was a real estate agent at the time, but he previously was a journalism student when he attended the University of Missouri.

“I came home for a week after graduate school at UT, and Dad said, ‘The town’s growing,’ ” Suzanna said. “It needs a newspaper. Let’s start one.”

She said she decided to take the plunge with about $3,000 in start-up money provided by her father.

She said she went around town, recruiting various folks who could contribute to the enterprise. One of those folks was Steve, who already was a close observer of Port Aransas city affairs in addition to working at the Marine Science Institute.

“I was just watching the way city government actually failed during Hurricane Celia (in 1970) and afterward – what I thought was pretty rotten politics at City Hall,” said Steve, now a 74-year-old technical and government policy consultant who lives in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area.

In April of 1982, the South Jetty moved its office where it rented land on east Cotter Avenue, across and west from the Tarpon Inn, to 141 W. Cotter Ave., on a lot purchased by the newspaper and where the building remains today. The offices, however, moved in November 2020 to 1726 State Highway 361, Suite A1.

In April of 1982, the South Jetty moved its office where it rented land on east Cotter Avenue, across and west from the Tarpon Inn, to 141 W. Cotter Ave., on a lot purchased by the newspaper and where the building remains today. The offices, however, moved in November 2020 to 1726 State Highway 361, Suite A1.

By establishing a newspaper in town, “I was hoping that, by informing people, we’d have a chance at (City Hall) becoming incrementally better,” he said, adding that he believes the South Jetty was successful in that regard.

What’s in a name?

A lot of newspapers have names like the Tribune, the Times and the Journal, but there probably isn’t another one in the world named the South Jetty.

Steve described why he named the paper the South Jetty, the rock structure at the north end of Mustang Island.

“I was in my lab at UTMSI on the ground floor looking out to the Gulf with the south jetty in view,” he said. “My thought was to name the paper for the most stable and recognizable feature of Port Aransas.”

Coverage and focus

From the beginning, the South Jetty maintained a focus on Port Aransas and Mustang Island issues.

Steve said the biggest matters he covered that first year or two were city politics, the first creation of zoning ordinances in town and something called Deeport.

Staff members producing the current editions of the South Jetty are, in front from left, bookkeeper Dianne Null, advertising production chief and graphic artist Elizabeth K. Weaver, publishers Murray and Mary Judson, office and circulation manager Kelli Hartig and advertising director Keith Petrus. In back from left are Jeremy Gifford who provides technical support, news editor Dan Parker, staff writer and classified ad manager Vivian Carlson and reporter Graysen Golter. Not pictured are distribution manager Russ Neal and assistant Susan Neal. Staff photo by Michelle Parker

Staff members producing the current editions of the South Jetty are, in front from left, bookkeeper Dianne Null, advertising production chief and graphic artist Elizabeth K. Weaver, publishers Murray and Mary Judson, office and circulation manager Kelli Hartig and advertising director Keith Petrus. In back from left are Jeremy Gifford who provides technical support, news editor Dan Parker, staff writer and classified ad manager Vivian Carlson and reporter Graysen Golter. Not pictured are distribution manager Russ Neal and assistant Susan Neal. Staff photo by Michelle Parker

The Deeport plan by the Port of Corpus Christi was to significantly widen and deepen the ship channel and build industrial facilities on Harbor Island, which was then and still is part of Port Aransas. The South Jetty kept Port Aransas citizens informed on the issue as news developments continued to arise.

After citizens rose up in protest, the Deeport proposal went away within a few years, but the Port of Corpus Christi currently is proposing similar plans, and the South Jetty of today has produced dozens of stories about the issue.

While it always has engaged in serious news reporting, the South Jetty also has worked to reflect the town’s casual side, with coverage of beach life, festivals and other light-hearted pursuits.

In the early days, there was a gossip column called the Watering Hole, which collected anecdotes from local bars. Lexa Crane, who was married to Steve at the time the South Jetty was founded, wrote a column called “What’s going on,” a compilation of social news. (Lexa also supported the newspaper in a variety of other roles at the South Jetty.)

Candidates’ Night, sponsored by the South Jetty, is a forum in which candidates for city council, school board and the water district board of directors answer questions in front of the public. Here, editor Mary Henkel Judson, facing the camera second from left, poses questions to candidates in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Candidates’ Night, sponsored by the South Jetty, is a forum in which candidates for city council, school board and the water district board of directors answer questions in front of the public. Here, editor Mary Henkel Judson, facing the camera second from left, poses questions to candidates in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Middle-school kids in town wrote a school news column for the paper. (In fact, the South Jetty’s current news editor, Dan Parker, was one of those Port Aransas children who wrote the school news, around 1975.)

Suzanna said she enjoyed writing a history column in which she interviewed longtime residents like Elda May Roberts and Ancel Brundrett. (Roberts Point Park was named after Elda May and her family. Ancel Brundrett is the namesake of Brundrett Middle School and the pier at the north end of Station Street.)

“I loved the town and learning about the town and (giving) it a cohesive communication,” she said.

Then and now, the South Jetty employed its photography over the years to spotlight not only news events in Port Aransas but also the beach recreation, scenic beauty and prized catches from fishing trips that make the town special.

Location, location

The South Jetty’s offices have been in a few different locations in Port Aransas over the years.

At first, the newspaper was put together in Suzanna’s father’s office, which was in a small portable building at the corner of Alister Street and Avenue A. (That’s where Amelia’s Landing hotel is now.)

About a year later, the office was moved to a Beach Street building that now houses La Playa Mexican Grille.

Later, the South Jetty offices were located on Cotter Avenue, just east of Alister Street. Then the building was moved further west down the street, and it remained at 141 W. Cotter Ave. for many years.

The newspaper moved into a space at the Tower Center, 1726 State Highway 361, in November 2020.

The South Jetty’s old building at 141 W. Cotter Ave. remains in place and now houses the Friends of the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) gift shop.

Changing hands

Steve bought out Suzanna about a year after the newspaper’s founding. About eight years later, in 1980, he decided to sell the Jetty to Mary and Murray because matters other than the South Jetty were attracting his attention.

“I was involved in a lot of other stuff having to do with Texas coastal management, and I was in a position where I felt like I was doing too many things not well enough,” Steve said.

After selling the paper, he started a coastal management consulting business.

The Judsons have been the South Jetty’s owners ever since purchasing it from Steve 40 years ago.

The Judsons

Murray grew up in Corpus Christi and worked at the Corpus Corpus Christi Caller Times from 1965 to 1976.

He started as a darkroom tech, “souping” film and taking photos, and he spent a year as a reporter and photographer. During that time, he also attended Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville), where he earned a degree in journalism.

At the same time, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a third-class photographer’s mate and third-class journalist mate at CNAVANTRA at Corpus Christi Naval Station.

He worked, went to school and served in the Navy simultaneously.

Mary was born into a newspaper family. Her father was C.M. “Cap” Henkel Jr., who, after moving to East Texas in the late 1940s, started a newspaper there called the Mid-County Review. Cap later migrated to South Texas, where he was news editor at the then-Robstown Record. Then, in the early 1960s, he became editor and publisher of the Refugio County Press.

Cap retired from the Refugio County Press in 1976. But he wrote columns for the South Jetty for years after that, after his daughter and son-in-law bought that paper.

Mary studied journalism at the University of Texas and interned at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, where she met Murray. They got married in 1976.

Mary and Murray were living in Refugio and were editor and publisher at the Refugio County Press at the time they began talking with Steve about possibly buying the South Jetty from him.

The Judsons had been visiting Port Aransas for some years and owned a house here.

The first issue published by the new owners came out on Jan 8, 1981. Soon afterward, the paper switched from a tabloid design to a broadsheet design.

After buying the South Jetty from Frishman, the Judsons hired Jim Edmonson as their first publisher, as well as his wife, Jerry, who helped in the office.

Jim had been Mary’s English teacher during her senior year at Refugio High School. Several years later, after Mary and Murray had taken over operations at the Refugio County Press, the Refugio school district asked Jim to teach journalism, and he came to the Judsons for help.

“We gave him some instruction and some books, and he did a great job,” Mary said. “So, when we were looking for a publisher, we thought of Jim. We sold Jim and Jerry our beach house, and they moved to Port Aransas and went to work. They did a great job.”

After about a year, however, Jim was hired by the Port Aransas school district, eventually becoming the high school principal. When he retired, he became the manager at Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District No. 4.

“We then hired David Wallace, who had been a photographer for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times,” Mary said. “After about a year, we decided it was time for us to take the helm, and we moved to Port Aransas in 1983.”

Before the Judsons purchased the paper, the South Jetty was, on average, 12 tabloid pages long each week.

Within the first few years after the Judsons bought the paper, its content doubled in size.

“We recognized there were many features that could be added, most importantly regular and more in-depth coverage of city hall, the school and community groups, such as the garden club,” Mary said.

“We also added an editorial page with columnists and an opportunity for readers to write letters to the editor,” she said. “We also made it common practice to shoot photos of local events.”

Pressing concerns

Like many newspapers, the South Jetty never has had a printing press of its own. “The Jetty,” as the newspaper has come to be known over the years, always has used printers in nearby cities, then trucked thousands of copies of the paper to Port Aransas.

Steve said the first few editions were printed in Austin, but he soon switched to printers in Corpus Christi.

After the Judsons took over, the paper was printed at a variety of locations over the years. Those locations included the Victoria Advocate, an offshoot of the Advocate called AdGraphics, the Port Lavaca Wave and now at the Caller-Times.

At least twice in the South Jetty’s history, the Judsons have had to use small planes to get editions from the printers to Port Aransas because of rainy weather and flooding. In 2002, a boat was used.

Delivery problems haven’t been the only obstacles faced by the paper.

The South Jetty has enjoyed good times during economic booms and weathered difficult times like the oil bust in the 1980s and Hurricane Harvey’s strike on Port Aransas in 2017. But the paper has survived, never missing publication of a single issue, despite sometimes difficult circumstances, like during the big freeze that shut down much of the Coastal Bend earlier this year.

A busy little paper

While Port Aransas is a small town, the South Jetty has no problem finding enough things to write about.

The newspaper always has covered Port Aransas City Hall from a multitude of angles, exploring everything from the city’s budget and tax rate to listing the types of activities that the parks and recreation department is offering.

The Port Aransas Independent School District also has gotten a lot of ink in the South Jetty. That has meant a lot more than just covering school board meetings.

For many years, the South Jetty has helped celebrate students’ successes by publishing photos of the children whose good grades have put them on school honor rolls.

The newspaper also runs stories about students when they have achieved victories in academics.

School athletics have received a lot of exposure in the paper, too. That has included two full pages of basketball coverage in most issues throughout the season each year.

“From the standpoint of a school administrator, I think the South Jetty has been the best cheerleader for our school system, always very supportive, always willing to provide information that parents need to know, keeping the community involved, in touch with what’s happening,” said Port Aransas resident Jane Thompson, who started teaching at H.G. Olsen Elementary School in 1969 and retired in 2003 as principal of the school.

“You all have been very positive and called us out at times when we needed it,” Jane said with a little laugh during an interview with a South Jetty reporter. “But you always were very supportive.”

More coverage

The activities of still other Port Aransas institutions long have been chronicled on the pages of the South Jetty. Those institutions include the Port Aransas Police Department, Nueces County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office, Coast Guard station and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.

The Texas Department of Transportation’s operations in Port Aransas also get scrutiny by the South Jetty because the newspaper’s reporters cover issues related to ferry operations and State Highway 361.

Of course, the paper spotlights the people of Port Aransas – their personalities, their accomplishments, their very lives. Many dozens of residents have been profiled over the years in the South Jetty.

Through the South Jetty, readers also keep up with community organizations like the Port Aransas Preservation and Historical Association, Port Aransas Community Theatre, Port Aransas Garden Club and many others.

The paper covers development, which has included new subdivisions with hundreds of new homes in them over just the past few years.

Then there are events such as the annual Whooping Crane Festival, Spring Break on the beach, SandFest and many fishing tournaments.

The paper covers breaking news such as auto accidents and house fires.

Many stories about Port Aransas history, wildlife and the environment find their way onto the pages of the South Jetty.

The South Jetty has done its best to produce a good newspaper, to remain objective and accurate in its news coverage, asserts Dan Parker, the paper’s news editor.

“We usually succeed,” Dan said. “But, because we are human, we are not perfect. And, every once in a while, we are pretty far from perfect.”

Here’s an example of that lack of perfection, described in a correction that ran in the South Jetty on March 6, 2008.

“A story on page 1-B in the Feb. 28 South Jetty misidentified Zach Ainscough’s grade level at Port Aransas High School. He is a sophomore. In the same issue, Ainscough’s name was misspelled in track results on page 10-A. A story about Lady Marlins softball on page 10-A in the Feb. 28 edition should have included mention that sophomore Jordan Butterfield is the team’s main pitcher this season. The story also misidentified Paige Porter’s position on the team. She is an outfielder.”

“Ouch,” Dan said. “It’s never good to make that many mistakes on one page of the newspaper. Luckily, it doesn’t happen much.”

The South Jetty’s coverage of Port Aransas often is issue driven. The paper extensively has covered the subjects of short-term vacation rentals, rising property values and the explosion of the golf cart population on Port Aransas streets, for instance.

The South Jetty has published scores of stories about Hurricane Harvey and its continuing impacts.

In the weeks after Harvey hit on Aug. 25, 2017, the South Jetty received quite a few letters to the editor praising the newspaper for its work related to the hurricane.

“I just wanted to thank you and your staff for providing regular email updates pertaining to Harvey since Aug. 24,” wrote Marlene Burleson of Victoria. “The updates have been an invaluable source of information for not only residents who evacuated, but also for non-resident property owners concerned about the entire town of Port Aransas.”

Opinions and accuracy

Speaking of letters to the editor …

Long before there was such a thing as social media, the South Jetty offered (and still does offer) a forum for opinions on all things going on locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. That forum is on our editorial page.

Also on that editorial page, the newspaper has a conservative columnist, Cal Thomas, and a more left-leaning columnist, Dave McNeely, whose writings appear every week.

Mary writes editorials most every week. The South Jetty has printed folks’ responses to those opinions, whether they agreed or disagreed.

Sometimes, that disagreement can be pointed. In the South Jetty’s Nov. 11, 2020 issue, Scott Richards expressed his displeasure with an editorial that Mary had written that expressed her concerns that the divisiveness in the U.S. was deeper than any she’d ever seen.

“You wonder why we have division in this country. How about once blaming a media that won’t print the truth?” wrote Richards, a North Little Rock resident who was a South Jetty subscriber and Port Aransas property owner.

He also wrote: “Look in your own back yard for the answer to the division in this country and stop blaming Republicans.”

Technology, expansion

The paper has undergone quite a bit of modernization over the years. In 1981, the South Jetty used phototypesetting equipment to produce the paper. It was messy, smelly and expensive. Now, a desktop publishing system that is clean and far more economical is used.

The South Jetty has 2,996 subscribers, and an additional 850 are sold at newsstands each week.

The newspaper also can be seen online at www.portasouthjetty.com, a website that the South Jetty established in 2006. The website, along with the South Jetty’s Facebook page, includes breaking news updates between publications of the newspaper’s print version.

The South Jetty has put out visitors’ guides each year since 1983. Printed four times a year, one for each season, they’re free publications that are full of information for newcomers.

The South Jetty also publishes guides for SandFest and the Deep Sea Roundup fishing tournament each year. This year’s Roundup guide is the 40th edition published by the Jetty.

Newspaper people

The South Jetty has employed many talented folks over the years.

Said longtime Port Aransas resident and South Jetty reader Mark Creighton:

“Phil Reynolds, a respected South Jetty reporter of yesteryear, mentioned to me that his goal in writing for a community newspaper was to have the reader cut out the article and put it on the refrigerator door. It seems that Steve Frishman and the Judsons and all the staff over the years have kept that in mind. Be relevant to your community and to your readers. The depth and insight of feature articles, the coverage of the school and youth, the … writers like Jack Moore, Tony Amos and Scott Burroughs add humanity and often are the first things we read. Few folks can imagine the time spent by Jetty reporters getting the facts right. Take my word for it, if you read it in the South Jetty, it was fact checked.”

In addition to the Judsons and Dan, the South Jetty’s current staff consists of Graysen Golter, reporter; Vivian Carlson, classified ad manager and staff writer; Kelli Hartig, circulation manager; Keith Petrus, advertising director; Elizabeth K. Weaver, advertising production chief and graphic artist; Dianne Null, bookkeeper; and Russ Neal, distribution manager.

Freelance staff photographers have contributed valuable material over the years to the South Jetty.

Current freelance staff photographers include Lee Harrison, Freda Greene, Mary Goldsmith, Michelle Parker, Regina Love, Danna Alcorn and Christy Barwise.

While not a staff member, Jeremy Gifford of Iamortek has provided technical support to the South Jetty for more than 15 years, and has become like a member of the staff.

Recognition

The South Jetty has won scores of awards from professional journalism organizations over the years. The awards have come in every category, from news writing to photography to advertising.

“We are proud that the South Jetty is a consistent award-winner in regional, state and national newspaper contests,” Mary said. “While many of those awards bear individual writers’ or photographers’ names, the truth is that it takes a team to produce the newspaper. We all are cogs in a wheel, and without every cog fitting into place, the wheel won’t turn. We’ve had a lot of talented cogs that keep the wheels turning at the South Jetty, and the awards our team has won over the years is a testament to that.”

The awards have come from the South Texas Press Association, Gulf Coast Press Association, Texas Press Association and National Newspaper Association.

Over the years, Mary and Murray have served as officers in these organizations. Both are past presidents of the STPA and TGCPA. Mary is past president of TPA and the first woman to hold that office. Dan is the current president of the STPA. Murray is a past president of the Corpus Christi Press Club.

Looking back with wonder

Looking back, it’s a little hard for the South Jetty’s founders to believe 50 years have gone by since the paper got started.

Suzanna mainly has worked in real estate since laboring with Steve to establish the newspaper. But she is a South Jetty subscriber, to this day.

What has it been like to see the newspaper still going strong, after five decades?

“I’m just so proud of you all for promoting this wonderful thing that’s got this enormous legacy, that I just happened to start,” Suzanna told a South Jetty reporter on a recent day. “It’s just overwhelming to me.”

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