James M. Flinchum

James Maxwell Flinchum, Jr. (November 5, 1916 – August 2, 2011), known as Jim Flinchum, was from 1961 until his retirement in 1985 the editor-in-chief of the Wyoming State Tribune, one of two forerunners of the existing Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Early years

Flinchum was born in Caddo in Bryan County in southern Oklahoma. In 1939, Flinchum obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma at Norman. For two years he was the editor of The Norman Transcript prior to joining the United Press wire service. During World War II, he was through 1945 a United States Army platoon leader and officer in the Pacific theater based in the Philippines. He won the Bronze Star. After the war, Flinchum returned to United Press, where he was based first in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thereafter, he was stationed in Denver, Colorado and Dallas and Houston, Texas.^[1]

Journalist in Cheyenne

Considered a demanding journalist with an encyclopedic knowledge of public affairs, Flinchum pushed his reporters to excel and rejected incomplete stories. He had difficulty when the newsroom was converted from typewriters to computers but persisted with hard-hitting editorials for the Wyoming State Tribune.^[2]

A Republican, Flinchum stayed active in local politics after his retirement from the Tribune Eagle through the interest group, Citizens Opposing Spendthrift Taxation. Jack Quirk of Cheyenne, the president of the group, said that he and Flinchum talked weekly even as the former editor lost his eyesight.^[2]

Jim Angell, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association and a former reporter for the Associated Press, describes Flinchum as "fair" in his editing and writing. Angell refers to Flinchum as an old-school journalist who stressed the facts and accurate reporting: "He was a legend in the community."^[2]

Flinchum was active in the YMCA and Rotary International.^[1] In 1971, he wrote a short article in Field and Stream magazine highlighting the many fishing waters of Wyoming.^[3]

Death

Flinchum died in Cheyenne at the age of ninety-four. He was survived by his wife, the former Nancy Reynolds of Cheyenne, whom he married in 1948, and two daughters, Nancy Prosser and her husband, Edward Riner Prosser, of Cheyenne, a Republican former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, and Suzy Deger and her husband, Tim, of Franktown, Colorado; two grandchildren, Jackie Parker and husband, Todd, of Colbert, Georgia and Brent Prosser and wife, Dana, of Grand Junction, Colorado, and five great-grandchildren.^[1]

Graveside services were held on August 6 at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne.^[1]

References