BOOTHE, DALEY, HALEY

Posted by Carolyn Schwab on Monday, October 09, 2006 at 09:06:37 :

San Rafael Independent
Friday, March 5, 1948
page 1

JAMES RUSSELL BOOTHE, Editor of Independent , Dies After Long Illness
Cardiac Ailment Ends Career of Noted Newsman

The hands that tapped out a day to day record of life in Marin for the past 17 years were stilled today as death claimed JAMES RUSSELL BOOTHE, 58, editor of the San Rafael Independent.

The editor died in an oxygen tent at a local hospital at 2:45 this morning, some of his last hours devoted to a delirious effort to compose an editorial for "tomorrow's paper".

Boothe had suffered from a heart condition for the past six months, but seemed well on the road to recovery when stricken by a sudden attack Saturday night. His condition since then had grown steadily worse until he succumbed this morning.

Funeral services are to be held Monday afternoon at the chapel of Guy W. Jenness & Co., San Anselmo, commencing at 2 p.m. The Rev. John Jefferson Canoles will officiate. Interment will be at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetery.

Born in Chico in 1890, Boothe was the son of Alfred Boothe and Mary Ella Owen Boothe. He was a grandson of the founder of the city of Suisun. His grandparents were 49ers who crossed the plains in covered wagons.

His parents moved to Napa when he was very young, and he was reared there. He was graduated from Petaluma High School.

His long, illustrious newspaper career began even before he completed high school when he began work for the Petaluma Argus as a part time reporter. When he finished high school, he became a full time reporter on the Argus.

Later he took a job with a weekly newspaper in Concord where he worked a short time before joining the staff of the Martinez Gazette. He was editor of the Gazette for several years before becoming owner-editor-publisher of the Fillmore News in San Francisco in the 1920's. Later tiring of "big city" life, he returned to Martinez where he remained until he came to Marin in 1930.

For a short period he was editor and publisher of the San Anselmo Herald, leaving to join the Independent as advertising manager. He soon was appointed editor, the position he held until his death.

Indicative of the esteem in which he was held by fellow newspapermen, Boothe was elected to the board of directors of the Northern California professional chapter of the Sigma Delta Chi, journalistic fraternity.

Similarly indicative of his high professional standing was his selection twice to head the annual California Newspaper Publishers Association editorial conference at Stanford. He also was a member of the San Francisco Press Club.

In 1914, Boothe was president of the Mt. Diablo chapter of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and thereafter served a term as a state officer of that organization.

In 1923 Boothe was married in San Francisco to Jesse Elaine Landon, who now resides in Larkspur. He leaves three children, Mrs. Virginia Daley of San Anselmo; Stanley Russell Boothe, a student at Marin Junior College; and Dorothy Boothe, a student at Tamalpais Union High School.

He is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Geraldine Haley, wife of Col, James B. Haley, stationed at Fort Mason, San Francisco.