Spotlight on an Abilene Resident: Henry B. Jameson

Views of the Past is currently featuring brief biographies of former Abilene residents. These photographs and biographies were recently featured in an exhibit at the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum. Even if you are not from Abilene or do not know these people, these stories are invaluable since they paint a portrait of small town life.  Both the photograph and text of this post are courtesy of the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum. The following was written by Bill Jeffcoat about Henry B. Jameson (1912-1986):

Henry did not graduate from high school, but he made the grade anyhow. Born and raised in Abilene, he was in the Press Corp, working for the Associated Press in Europe during WWII. He returned to his home town and teamed up with the Reflector-Chronicle, first as advertising manager, and then as his boss, Mr. Harger grew older, Henry became owner.

He was very popular in town, and he could do good writing. He ran a front page column of happenings of the day in town called “Ramblings,” and this was the first thing people read when they received their evening paper.

As the Eisenhower popularity grew, so did the newspaper and Henry. When out of town media arrived, the first thing they sought out was the editor of the paper. The paper and Henry became the connection for all important events concerning Ike and Abilene. Henry was “it” during the Eisenhower era, and he basked in the limelight and met a lot of very high up people in the media and from the White House. He wrote some books on Ike and on early Abilene days. Henry was a great contributor due to his outlook on the town and for the development of the Eisenhower Center.