David E. Autry

"It's difficult to summarize a life or to capture a person's meaningfulness in a paragraph. However, here is my attempt. My father was an excellent writer, thinker, father and friend and he loved to laugh. I hold the image of how his entire face would crinkle up as he chortled in my mind often this week as I remember him; how his belly jiggled as he struggled to catch his breath. His cheeks would become flush, and his eyes would tear up as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. My father was a gentle and genuine person; he was quiet and reserved but also passionate and considerate. My father was also an enigma to me in many ways. He would provide scant details over the course of my life on how he had hiked most of the state of West Virginia or competitively raced motorcycles in motocross. His time in the Navy is recounted only in various photographs, medals, mementos and service records. His time as a journalist is captured in a couple laminated press passes stamped with his name and the publications he worked for and clippings of notable articles he wrote. But his time as my father is recorded in my and my family's photographs and memories of a jovial man who was quiet most of the time, until you got him to laugh. And that's when his smile would fill the room. I'm going to miss you, Dad. Thank you for all the laughs.

The family of David Autry requests that charitable donations be made in his name to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (https://freedom.press)."