Published: June 23, 2009 09:55 pm      

Former co-workers remember onetime Leader editor

Hard working, precise and a dedicated newsman are how Jerry Gaulding, the former editor of the Orange Leader, was described by former co-workers.

Gaulding, 56, a native of Fannett, was found dead in his Lufkin apartment on Monday.

Lufkin Police Lt. David Young said Gaulding was last seen on the afternoon of Friday, June 19. When Gaulding didn’t show up for work on Monday, police made a call to his home and found Gaulding deceased. Foul play has been ruled out.

The preliminary cause of death is pending autopsy results, Young said.

Gaulding was the current editor of the Diboll Free Press, but had years of experience leading mostly small town newspapers, including The Orange Leader.

Gaulding’s former co-workers remembered the man who led the editorial staff in Orange in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“Jerry Gaulding was my first editor, and a great one at that,” Sherry Koonce, Port Arthur News city editor said. “I got my start at the Orange Leader while attending college and remember him as an untiring and stalwart newsman. Whether it was a quilting bee, or allegations of governmental corruption, Jerry Gaulding was dedicated to keeping the residents of Orange County informed.”

Longtime Orange Leader employee Becky Hatfield also recalled her days working with Gaulding.

“When I started working for The Orange Leader, Jerry Gaulding was the editor at the time, Hatfield said. “I can remember how I thought he lived there because every time I had to go in, day and night, Jerry was always there. I remember how he loved to read anything he could find. If he wasn't working on the newspaper he was always reading. He was a good person to work with.”

Van Wade, sports editor Orange Leader, called Gaulding a “real precise copy editor.”

As editor, Gaulding read over stories, checking for spelling, grammar, accuracy and style and took time to teach young reporters how to be better at their jobs.

“He was a great guy,” Wade said. “I was young when I started out there and he was a big, big influence. He was real good with young reporters.”

Gaulding had been a journalist since 1976 and spent a lot of time on small dailies in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana, according to the Lufkin Daily News.

He was a 1976 graduate of Lamar University and edited daily newspapers in Orange, Sulphur and Minden, La., and weeklies in Orange and Lumberton, according to an October 2006 edition of Cadence, the university's magazine.

Services for Gaulding have not been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.