News

Derwood Brett, 76, Mount Ida, June 16. Brett got his start in the advertising department at the Minden Press Herald while studying journalism at Louisiana Tech University.

Richard Palmer Portis, M.D., 79, Little Rock, March 31. Dr.

Alice Stewart, 58, Alexandria, Virginia., May 18. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Stewart held a degree in broadcast news and political science from the University of Georgia.

Vivian Lee Asbury Heyl, 74, Brookland, April 18. Heyl was born in Peoria, Illinois and graduated from Mammoth Spring High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Arkansas State University.

Linda Dee Rooney Card, 69, Caddo Gap, April 18. A native of Kiefer, Oklahoma, Card was a long-time contributor to the Montgomery County News through her weekly column, “Norman News with Dee Card.” Under the name Dee Rooney she was the author of the 2023 novel, “Annie’s Heart,” and had just published her second novel, “The Devil’s Bathtub,” on March 8. A former Arkansas Tobacco Control Agent, Card, had also served as a member of the Caddo Gap Volunteer Fire Department and was a member of the Diamond Writers Association.

William Alvin “Bill” Whitworth, 87, Conway, March 8. Raised in Little Rock, Whitworth attended the University of Oklahoma, where was editor of OU’s student newspaper, the Oklahoma Daily, and worked for the Arkansas Democrat.

William Thomas Taylor, Sr., 95, Little Rock, March 5. Taylor started at the then – Arkansas Democrat as a paperboy at age 13 in 1941.