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Note: <b>Clifford Coyne Cooley</b> was literally born into the newspaper businessÂ…into it and above it. On 15 July 1912 in Otis, Washington County, Colorado, he came into the world in the living quarters above his parent's newspaper office, the <i>Otis Independent.</i> In fact, he was born the same day as the <i>Independent'</i>s Thursday issue was delivered from the press.
He was the son of Robert Berton Cooley (Bert) and Carrie Louella Miller (Lou)<b> </b>who owned the newspaper. The business was housed on the first floor of a small building south of the Akron-Otis Lumber Company in Otis and the family lived on the second level (they had to go outside from the first floor newspaper office and climb a ladder to their residence above).
Bert and Lou had homesteaded northwest of Flagler in 1910 where Bert along with his twin brother Mert (Herbert Merton Cooley) took up farming while Lou continued to teach. One summer in 1912, R. B. went to Otis, Colo., about 30 miles north of Flagler with a steam threshing crew. There he learned that Otis had no newspaper. R. B. borrowed $100 from his brother-in-law, Odes Bert Miller, and started a newspaper on 12 Jan 1912 which he named the <i>Otis Independent</i>. This marked the beginning of Eastern Colorado's Cooley newspaper dynasty.
Coyne (the name he always went by, he did not like the name Clifford), from the time he entered kindergarten, had duties in the newspaper office such as sweeping and cleaning. He later "advanced" to "printer's devil" who performed back shop work such as returning movable type from a "hellbox" back to its proper type case, mixing ink, and such. "I always figured I was born to be a newspaperman and I never seriously considered doing anything else," Coyne said.
He attended grade school and two and one-half years of high school at Otis High School when in 1929 his dad Bert bought the <i>Akron Semi-News </i>and<i> the Akron Reporter </i>located in the county seat of Washington County, Akron Colorado, which was 13 miles west of Otis on Highway 54. The merged newspapers became the <i>Akron News-Reporter,</i> the first edition of which was published on 7 Mar 1929.
Coyne continued to work the back shop of the newspaper after school and weekends. While a freshman in high school he started to learn the operation of the great old machine, the Linotype. Before his graduation from high school in 1930 he could do everything necessary to produce a weekly newspaper. Write the stories, set the type, sell the ads, make up the page forms and put them on the press, run the press, and kill out after the last run.[iv]
This continuing involvement in the family business marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career in journalism, spanning five decades.
After graduating from Akron High School he entered the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1930. He majored in journalism receiving his baccalaureate in 1936 (laying out two years to work at the News-Reporter). He belonged to the social fraternity Kappa Sigma[vi] and the professional journalism fraternity Sigma Delta Chi.
Shortly after his graduation he was married on 21 June 1936 to Margaret May Sears, daughter of Nelson Evans Sears and Edna Maude Barnhouse, at the Presbyterian Church in Akron. They were attended by Eleanor Newcomb of Melba, Idaho, and Robert Miller Cooley, brother of the groom. The newlyweds, accompanied by the groom's parents, left after the ceremony for a honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls. They returned July 6, 1936 to begin residence in the Rena Lewis Apartments at Main St. and 5th Ave in Akron. Coyne immediately began working at the News-Reporter and was hard at it until 1976.
Coyne and Margaret's first child, a son, Daniel Berton, was born 25 October 1939 in the Anderson home in west Akron at present 581 Fremont St. (refurbished and still standing in 2007).
They were still residing in the Lewis Apartments when Daniel was born but shortly after his birth they acquired (with help from R.B. Cooley) the property known as Lot Three in Block Three of the First Addition of Akron, Colorado, from J. B. Fisher where they built a Cape Cod-style house.
Coyne and Margaret's second child, a daughter, Catherine Lou, was born 14 November 1943, also in the Anderson Home. Their third child, a daughter, Jo Ellen, was born on 19 Nov 1953 in Akron Hospital.
In 1955, when his father, known as "R-B", and his mother, always known as "Ma" by the boys, "Lou" by others, retired and the family business was officially turned over to Coyne and his cousin Merton Beth Cooley (always known as "Beth", a female name he didn't like).
Coyne was the writer half of the partnership. He wrote all news copy, editorials, and a very popular column called "Hash . . . and rehash", Coyne's particular brand of "three-dot journalism". Beth handled typesetting and all that was mechanical.
Coyne was an active member of the Colorado Press Association, serving on the board of directors for several years, as treasurer in 1966, and as president in the 1967-1968 term. Following his year as president, he served for one year as chairman of the board of directors.
Coyne had a lifetime interest in sports, first as a participant in his school years and young adult life and always as an avid observer and reporter. He was a New York Yankees fan, a Baltimore Colts fan, and a fan of the Denver Bears, a baseball farm team at that time.
Locally, he announced Akron High School Ramblers football games and reported on all Akron sports functions generally traveling to all away football and basketball games.
He was a charter member and two-term president of the Akron Rotary Club and was an active member in the Akron Chamber of Commerce.
He was very civic minded, always working for the betterment of the town in various community affairs he was involved in through the years. He always believed that his, as well as ALL local residents' personal business transactions should be with local merchants. "Keep your business in Akron" was a continuing theme in his editorials for the Akron News Reporter.
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