Carmage Walls

B. Carmage Walls
Southern Newspapers Founder

B. CARMAGE WALLS was born in Crisp County, Georgia on October 28, 1908. When he was a young boy, his family moved to Orlando, Florida, where he went to work at age 15 for the Orlando Sentinel-Star in the mailroom. Walls studied accounting by correspondence courses and was promoted to bookkeeper at the Sentinel-Star.

In 1932 he became General Manager and Publisher of the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph-News. Later, he moved to Gadsden, Alabama as President of General Newspapers, Inc. of which Charles Marsh was majority owner.

Walls formed Public Welfare Foundation for Marsh to which Marsh gave General's newspapers in Gadsden and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Walls directed operations for Public Welfare Foundation until shortly before they were sold to the New York Times.

While directing Public Welfare Foundation operations, Walls founded a group of newspapers, Southern Newspapers, Inc. of Tennessee. He purchased the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser-Journal with Gene Worrell in 1963 and was Publisher until 1969 when it was sold.

Walls dissolved Southern Newspapers, Inc., of Tennessee in 1967 and began operating as Carmage Walls D/B/A Walls Investment Company. He transferred and/or gave all newspaper interests to family members, except for control of Galveston (Texas) Newspapers, Inc. and Texas City (Texas) Newspapers, Inc.

Mr. Walls died Sunday, Nov. 22, 1998 at his home in Houston, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Martha Ann Walls.

She and their children, Lissa Walls Vahldiek and B. Cooper Walls, own Southern Newspapers, Inc. C. Lee Walls, Sr., another son, is the owner of another group of newspapers. Nell Walls Cowart, widow of the Walls' son Tom Walls, owns the Valley Times-News in Lanett, Alabama. Daughter Jean Walls Garcich lives in Louisiana.