Tom Colley, the late executive editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, is pictured in this file photograph.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tom Colley, an editor whose “virtue, integrity, ethics and service are certainly legendary,” was formally inducted Thursday into the West Virginia Press Association’s Hall of Fame by Bluefield Daily Telegraph Editor Samantha Perry.
Colley served as the executive editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph from 1985 until the time of his death in 2009. He now joins an elite list of outstanding state journalists as a member of the WVPA’s prestigious Hall of Fame.
“Tom was an inspirational editor, and a public servant in the truest of forms,” Perry, who was hired by Colley in December of 1989, said. “He continues to be missed — by his staff, by his family, by his friends, and by his paper. Tonight, it is one of my proudest moments to induct Tom Colley into the West Virginia Press Hall of Fame. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your love and knowledge of journalism with me, and the many other reporters and editors who were blessed to work with your during your career. Your lessons continue to live on daily in the pages of your paper.”
Perry was joined by Daily Telegraph Publisher Randy Mooney for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony held at the Culture Center at the West Virginia Capitol Complex. Members of Colley’s family, including his wife Frances; his son, Kevin; his daughter-in-law, Michele; his granddaughters Zoe and Erika; and his sister, Peggy Claridge, and her husband, Wilbur Claridge, also were in attendance…
