Edwin Strode Hughes

Edwin Strode Hughes, 85, former Dallas newsman and corporate public relations manager, passed away on Thursday, June 30, 2022. He had lived in Albuquerque for the past eight years and spent more than 60 years in public relations and advertising, including 25 years with Southwestern Bell Telephone and the AT&T Bell System.

Known by his friends as Eddie, he was a native of Austin, Texas, the son of Frank Miller and Lorine Mitchell Hughes, born on October 6, 1936 along with his twin brother, Mitchell Sample Hughes, who only lived for three days. His father worked for the Texas Highway Department as a bridge design engineer; he passed away in 1970 at age 73. His mother was a school teacher for 20 years, from a one-room school in East Texas to the prestigious Bradfield School in the Highland Park (Dallas) School District; she passed away in 2001 at age 102.

Eddie was a 1954 graduate of A. N. McCallum High School in Austin, the first senior class at McCallum. After graduating from high school, Eddie joined the US Army National Guard, and served eight years with the 36th Infantry Division, and four years with the 49th Armored Division, achieving the rank of Master Sergeant. He was honorably discharged in July 1966.

He married the former Linda Lee Bennett on June 24, 1961, in Dallas. They observed their 58th anniversary three weeks before she passed away on July 19, 2019 due to cancer (Leukemia).

Eddie was a 1960 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, earning a Bachelor of Journalism Degree. While studying journalism at UT, he started a lifelong profession in media and public relations. He was sports editor of the university's college newspaper, The Daily Texan, and worked on the sports staff at the Austin American Statesman during his senior year. He joined the news staff at the Dallas Morning News in 1958 where he worked for seven-plus years. He was unique in that he also became both reporter and photographer for the News. Many of his photos and bylined stories appeared on Page One of the largest daily newspaper (at the time) in Texas.

In September 1963, Eddie was named Bureau Chief of the newly-created West Texas Bureau of the Dallas News, based in Fort Worth. When President John F. Kennedy came to Fort Worth for a visit, before heading to Dallas on that fateful day of November 22, 1963, Ed covered the President's crowd-cheering visit to Fort Worth, and what turned out to be his last public speech. He also covered the burial of alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Fort Worth after Oswald himself was killed two days after the assassination of the President.

In November 1965, two years after the JFK Assassination, Eddie accepted a public relations position at Southwestern Bell Telephone, where he spent a career spanning 25 years, rising to become Division Manager after several years at corporate headquarters in St. Louis, two years at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey as a department head, and 12 years as Division Manager-External Affairs in San Antonio.

He was active with the Boys Scouts as a scout master in San Antonio, earning the distinguished Silver Beaver award for distinguished service to youth. He led his troop on several rugged high-adventure treks to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico where he fell in love with the mountains and mountain air.

When Eddie retired (early) from Southwestern Bell in Dallas in January 1991, he and his wife Linda moved to New Mexico, residing in Tijeras, NM, near Albuquerque, where he served as president of the East Mountain Chamber of Commerce and Linda served as its secretary. Eddie later went to work for Starlight Publications in Albuquerque as Editor-in-Chief for more than 30 travel and destination magazines and guides.

While active as a PR professional, Eddie served as president of the Texas Public Relations Association, president of the New Mexico Chapter, Public Relations Society of America, and was president and founder of the Northern Plains Chapter of PRSA while serving as a PR consultant in Laramie, Wyo. He was awarded the prestigious Golden Spur Award in 2000 by TPRA for his contributions to the public relations profession. He was also named to the Who's Who in Public Relations that same year.

When Eddie and Linda lived in Loveland, Colorado (1998-2007), they helped create a non-profit agency known as the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), working with churches that helped homeless families get back on their feet. It later became known as the Angel House. He joined the Rotary Club of Loveland in 2002 as a way to be involved in community work, and later joined the Jefferson City West Club in Missouri in 2007, and in 2012 the Del Norte Rotary Club in Albuquerque, where he served as its executive secretary. He was named Rotarian of the Year with all three Rotary clubs in 2007, 2010, and 2014. In all, he spent nearly 20 years as a Rotarian, writing and editing club and district-wide newsletters that won many awards.

Eddie also served two terms as president of the Board of Trustees of the First United Methodist Church in Loveland, CO, as well as serving as an adult Sunday School teacher.

He is survived by two sons, Frank Mitchell Hughes and daughter-in-law, Risa Hiltermann of Burien, WA, and Lee Gordon Hughes and daughter-in-law, Alison Hughes, Cimarron, NM; two sisters, Fran H. Esquivel of Fort Worth and Irene H. Smith of Granbury, TX; three grandchildren, Frank Michael Hughes of Ely, NV, Jesse B. Hughes of Denver, CO, and Taylor L. Hughes of Mesa, AZ; and two step-grandchildren, Corryn Leiner of Renton, WA and Roscoe Leiner of Seattle, WA; and one great-grandson, Roamyn Kahikilani Laflin of Renton, WA.

A Memorial Service will be held Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 2:00 p.m., at FRENCH - University.