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- Former Gazette editor, reporter James Haught dies at age 91
By Rick Steelhammer rsteelhammer@hdmediallc.com
CHARLESTON -- James A. Haught, who worked his way up from apprentice printer to editor of The Charleston Gazette during a newspaper career that spanned 70 years, died Sunday at age 91.
Born in the tiny Wetzel County community of Reader, West Virginia, Haught moved to Charleston in 1949, soon after graduating from high school, working first as a deliveryman for a typewriter company that did business with the two newspapers then operating in the capital city.
Two years later, with help from a great aunt who worked as a proofreader for the Charleston Daily Mail, Haught began working as a typesetter in that newspapers print shop. He became intrigued with the idea of becoming a reporter.
In 1953, he volunteered to work in the Daily Mail newsroom on his days off, without pay, to try his hand at the writing end of the newspaper business. Within a few months, the rival Charleston Gazette offered him a job as a reporter, which Haught accepted, despite a $2 per week cut in pay from his typesetting job.
He worked at the Gazette and Gazette-Mail for the rest of his newspaper career, save for a seven-month hiatus in 1959 when, bored with a posting as night city editor, he took a job as a press aide for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.
During his time at the Gazette, Haught worked as a police beat reporter, features writer, religion columnist and investigative reporter before being elevated to associate editor in 1983 and editor in 1992. Following the Gazettes merger with the Daily Mail in 2015, Haught served as editor emeritus of the Charleston Gazette-Mail. He continued to contribute to the newspapers editorial pages into his late 80s.
During the course of his newspaper career, Haught earned more than 20 national awards for his reporting, editorials and columns. In addition to West Virginia politics, history and culture, Haughts commentary focused on his love of his homes states natural beauty, including time spent gliding across its lakes, the smallest of which might have been Cross Lanes Lake Chaweva, his small sailboats long-time home port.
Haught also was the author of 12 books and more than 100 magazine articles on such topics as religion, religious doubt, science and West Virginias history, politics and colorful -- sometimes criminal -- personalities.
Haughts post-newspaper writing career included serving as a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason.
"Haught was a giant intellect, a tireless fighter and certainly an inspiration to reporters," said former Gazette managing editor Patty Vandergrift Tompkins. "He came to work early, stayed late and was always available to offer his advice, wisdom and, if needed, consolation."
"He had that wonderful intellectual insatiability -- he read everything he could get his hands on," said Dawn Miller, former Gazette-Mail opinion editor. "He always kept learning."
Miller recalled taking part in a training session with Haught on how to use the newsrooms most recent Cloud-based operating system, held in a mostly empty space that once housed the newspapers composing room.
"He turned around and pointed to a spot about 5 feet away, and said, Thats where I worked on my very first job here, which was operating a Linotype machine," Miller recalled. "That really struck me: There he was, learning the newest piece of software, just a few feet away from where he learned how to cast type from hot lead."
Haught continued writing until late June and played online chess with a grandson, Conner, as recently as last week.
"In all the time we played," Conner said, "I only managed to beat him once."
Haught and his first wife, Nancy, a former Gazette reporter who died in 2008, had four children and 11 grandchildren. In 2013, he married retired teacher Nancy Lince, who died in 2021.
He was a long-time member of the Charleston Unitarian Universalist Congregation, who wrote that he considered himself a "science-minded person, confident that no heaven or hell lurks" at lifes end.
"I have no fear of death," Haught wrote earlier this year, following his 91st and final birthday. "Its simply the natural end of every life and awaits all 8 billion of us. For now, Ill just keep flailing away, writing as well as I can, until it becomes impossible."
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday evening.
https://www.coalvalleynews.com/news/former-gazette-editor-reporter-james-haught-dies-at-age-91/article_c92f5152-3539-5db8-9fbe-8cbb9e05831b.html
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James Haught Obituary
Devoted father and journalism magnate, JAMES ALBERT HAUGHT, 91, of Charleston, WV, passed away peacefully at the Hospice wing of Thomas Memorial Hospital on July 23, 2023.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Brady; wife, Nancy Lince; his son, Joel Haught, and his daughter, Cassandra Blankenship.
He is survived by his sons, Jacob Haught and Jeb Haught, his sister Helen Fanick, twelve grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Born and raised in a small WV town called Reader, Haught traveled to Charleston where he worked his way up from apprentice printer to editor of The Charleston Gazette.
During his impressive 70 year journalism career, Haught won 20 national writing awards, had many books published, exposed local scams that sent people to jail,, and even interviewed stars including Jayne Mansfield. His hobbies included chess, sailing, taking long walks, and talking about the infinite wonders of the universe.
Haught was known as "Papa Jim" to his sizeable extended family, and his gentle nature and boundless generosity was truly an inspiration to everyone he met.
Services for Mr. Haught will be Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 1 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 520 Kanawha Blvd W, Charleston, WV.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by Charleston Gazette-Mail on Jul. 27, 2023.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/wvgazettemail/name/james-haught-obituary?id=52555833
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James A. Haught (1932-2023) was an emeritus editor of West Virginia's largest newspaper, The Charleston Gazette. He was the author of five books, including two on religious violence: Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness, and Holy Hatred: Religious Conflicts of the '90s.
https://infidels.org/author/james-a-haught/
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1932 - 2023 (91 years)
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