95 yr old man with the golden touch

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March 30,

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ArthurCHAPEL HILL — J. () Arthur, well-known

journalist, newspaper publisher, legislator, businessman and dwarf,

died Monday, March 27, 2006, at Carolina Meadows Health Center.

A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 8,

2006, in the auditorium at Carolina Meadows.

He was 95 years old and a resident of Carolina Meadows Retirement Center.

Affectionately known as Arthur throughout his life, he was born

Jan. 4, 1911, in Charlotte, the son of ph A. Arthur and Annis

Virginia Eudy Arthur. He was a graduate of the Charlotte City schools

and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, class of 1933,

with a degree in journalism. In 1930 and 1931, he was UNC head

cheerleader.

In October 1933, Arthur was employed as a reporter/city editor of the

New Bern Tribune. One of the job's requirements was writing a daily

column which became the longest continuing daily, weekly and

semi-weekly column in various North Carolina newspapers, never missing

a week in more than 66 years. In the 1930s, he began writing freelance

for The State magazine and for more than 10 years had been a

contributing editor of it and its successor, Our State, furnishing a

Tar Heel historical narrative, nostalgic quotes and anecdotes monthly

while continuing his weekly column in the Chapel Hill News.

For all publications Arthur drew stories from his files of North

Caroliniana, gathered since 1933 in New Bern, ville and in the

North Carolina Collection at Library in Chapel Hill, where he

also did research for Bill Sharpe's four-volume " New Geography of

North Carolina " and Jack Riley's " Carolina Power and Light Company –

1908-1958. "

In early 1940, Arthur purchased the weekly Onslow County News and

Views at ville. It gained national attention for its slogan:

" The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives A Whoop About Onslow

County. " He had hoped to make an easy living and live easily. But in

December 1940, the Army began building temporary Camp at Holly

Ridge, and in March 1941 the Navy began construction of permanent

Marine base Camp Lejeune. Within four years, Arthur's newspaper grew

to a five-day daily; and the company also operated an office supply

and bookstore until all the businesses were sold in 1953.

Arthur was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives

sessions of 1943 and 1945, served as president of the ville

Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce and Onslow County Fair; and chaired

the town's liaison committee in dealings with military authorities. In

spare time, he entertained troops in staff clubs, the Naval Hospital

and the USO with songs and comedy.

He was married in 1950 to Edith Varina , the Onslow County home

economist. " The best day's work I ever did, " he often said. She is a

native of Weeksville, Pasquotank County.

When he and his family moved to Chapel Hill in early 1954, Arthur

became publicist for the Morehead Planetarium and columnist for the

Chapel Hill Weekly. For a while he also operated a newspaper clipping

service and syndicated a column to 22 North Carolina daily and weekly

newspapers.

From 1955 through 1961 Arthur served as reading clerk in the North

Carolina House of Representatives; and in 1962, drawing on retail

experience in ville, he and Mrs. Arthur opened a hobby, craft

and educational toy store in Chapel Hill. It grew into the largest

store of its kind on the Atlantic seaboard and was purchased in 1974

by a national handicraft and school supplier. The Arthurs remained as

managers until 1980.

He was a charter member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church and

teacher of the adult Sunday school class. A 50-year Mason and Shriner,

he was raised in St. s Lodge No. 3 at New Bern and subsequently

became a member of Lafayette Lodge No. 83 at ville, the New

Bern ish Rite Bodies and Sudan Temple Shriners.

Arthur is survived by his widow of Chapel Hill; a daughter, Annis

Arthur-Boursse and her husband, Andre, of Pinole, Calif.; a son,

Arthur Jr. of Snow Camp; and a grandson, Boursse, of Pinole, Calif.

Memorials may be made to Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 632

Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill; Shriners Hospitals for Crippled

Children, Box 490, New Bern; or the UNC School of Journalism, Chapel

Hill; or the to charity of your choice.

Arrangements are by 's Funeral Home, Chapel Hill.