Members of the Latcham family were surprised to learn that the STPA board of directors decided to name the annual community service award the Fred and Joyce Latcham Community Service Award, to honor the memory of the late longtime owners of the Beeville Publishing Co.
The large hand-painted plaque reads in part: “desiring to recognize the legacy of service to community in the spirit of quality journalism exhibited through numerous Community Service Awards presented to the Beeville Bee-Picayune by not only the South Texas Press Association, but also the Texas Gulf Coast Press Association and the Texas Press Association, and throughout a lifetime of service as publishers and subsequently by their heirs, Frederick Charles ‘Chip’ Latcham and George Geoffrey ‘Jeff’ Latcham, we hereby resolve to honor in perpetuity Fred and Joyce Latcham by naming one of the most prestigious awards presented by the South Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Contest as the Fred and Joyce Latcham Community Service Award.”
Chip Latcham, who was in attendance and accepted the award, said, “My mother and father would have been so pleased with this honor from the STPA.”
He later added, “As community newspapermen and women, we have no higher calling than providing all the news, opinions, photos and advertisements to our communities in Bee, Live Oak and McMullen, and Refugio counties.
“Our readers count on us to provide everything from births to obituaries, weddings and engagements, coverage of meetings, courts and police reports, schools and sports – which can only be found in our hometown papers.”
Also last Friday at the STPA convention, Beeville and Refugio won the sweepstakes trophy as the best all-around newspapers in their division in South Texas.
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