Frank Willis Mayborn (December 7, 1903May 16, 1987) was an American philanthropist, soldier, newspapers editor, publisher and broadcaster. He is best known for the crucial role he played in Bell County and

Temple city Temple City is a city in Los Angeles County, California located northeast of downtown Los Angeles and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Temple City is part of a cluster of cities, along with Pasadena, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Marino, and ...

's development in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Early life

Mayborn was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

, to his father Ward Carlton Mayborn, a media personnel who was also a newspaper publisher of

E.W. Scripps Edward Willis Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher. He and his sister Ellen Browning Scripps founded the E. W. Scripps Company, today a diversified media conglomerate, as well as the United Press new ...

newspaper conglomerate, and his mother Nellie Childs Welton. In 1910, his parents relocated to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and later moved again in 1919 to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Newspaper and publishing career

Mayborn started working with newspapers when he was in high school as a

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

, part-time and summer worker at San Diego Sun and

Dallas Dispatch ''The Dallas Dispatch'' was a daily evening newspaper published in Dallas, Texas, United States from 1906 until it was combined with the evening ''Dallas Journal'' in 1938 to create ''The Dallas Dispatch-Journal'', the name of which was shortened ...

, and as a correspondent in

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

before becoming a publisher. He bought a publishing company in 1929 known as Telegram Publishing company of

Temple Daily Telegram The ''Temple Daily Telegram'' is the daily newspaper of Temple, Texas, Temple, Texas, serving Central Texas since 1907. The Telegram is locally owned and operated by Frank Mayborn Enterprises, under editor and publisher Sue Mayborn, the widow of ...

together with his father and brother in Temple, acquired the Sherman Democrat in 1945 before moving on in 1952 to purchase the Killeen Herald in 1959, and owned the Taylor Daily Press company. After graduating from high school he worked as an advertising salesman for the

Dallas News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

and held several positions in the

Northern Texas Traction Company The Northern Texas Traction Company was a subsidiary of Stone & Webster that operated the streetcar system and interurban lines in Fort Worth, Texas. The Northern Texas Traction Company began with the purchase of the City Railway of Fort Worth ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. Mayborn served as an editor of Daily Telegram from 1929 to 1946, and later became the publisher and editor in 1946. In 1952, he was the operations manager of Sherman Democrat of the ''Daily Herald'', previously known as the ''Killeen Herald'', in 1974 the Taylor Press was sold together with the Sherman Democrat sold in 1977, he acquired the Frank Mayborn Enterprises, Inc, a newspaper of publishing company in 1978.

Media and broadcasting career

Mayborn was a communication member and pioneer in media starting a radio station in

KTEM KTEM (1400 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Temple, Texas. It serves the Killeen-Temple area with a talk radio format. KTEM is owned by Townsquare Media, through licensee Townsquare Media Killeen-Temple License, LLC. Its s ...

at Temple in 1936, and owned WMAK radio at Nashville in 1945 and the

KCEN-TV KCEN-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Temple, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North 3rd Street in downtown Temple, with a news bureau ...

station in 1952 resided at

Temple, Texas Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the 2020 United States census, U.S. census. Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas and is a principal city in th ...

.Frank Willis Mayborn- the Texas media mogul, Handbook of Texas, history online, Texas History book

Mayborn and Sue relations in Baylor

After Mayborn's death, Sue became the owner and president of Frank Mayborn Enterprises, Inc. in 1987 including other subsidiaries of Mayborn. Mayborn funded The W. R. Poage Legislative Library at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Role in military and their affairs

Mayborn started working with the military in 1939 and organized military affairs as the Temple Chamber of Commerce president, chaired the

military affairs Military science is the study of military processes, institutions, and behavior, along with the study of warfare, and the theory and application of organized coercive force. It is mainly focused on theory, method, and practice of producing mi ...

committee, and worked for the War Projects Committee formed with the Temple Chamber of Commerce. He was selected to work at

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...

of Hood camp in the army, where he and the committees relocated McCloskey General Hospital and a military installation defense plant to Temple. Mayborn later joined the military in 1942–43 as a public relations official and worked with

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

as a chief assistant of public relation office in

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He was awarded a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

before retiring in 1946 as a major, but did not stop activities in military affairs. Mayborn accompanied Bruce C. Clarke to

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, in 1968 for a fact-finding tour, and before his return, he was asked to accompany

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

, who later served as the 36th

president of the United States of America The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. Before leaving the military, he received the Creighton W. Abrams Medal in 1979 for his contributions to the United States military and the

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

Commander's Award for Public Service.

Political involvements

Mayborn became involved in Democratic party political issues, and developed relationships with some leading Democrats members through his service as a newsman and advocate in Texas, such as

John B. Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. He began his career as a Hi ...

, William Robert Poage, Jesse H. Jones, and Samuel T. Rayburn. In 1946, he won the member seat of the Texas Democratic State Committee election.