WELL-KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER DIES AT 88

Garland D. Fronabarger, 88, a photographer for more than six decades, most of them with the Southeast Missourian newspaper, died Saturday at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Fronabarger, known throughout Southeast Missouri as "One-Shot Frony," was reporter and staff photographer during the 1920s, 1930s and into the late 1940s before becoming a free-lance photographer.

With his familiar cigar clenched between his teeth, Fronabarger helped pioneer news photography in Southeast Missouri.

In his years with the newspaper, Fronabarger photographed presidents, sports heroes, thousands of school children, floods, car accidents, murders and peach blossoms.

He was called "One-Shot Frony" because he really took just one photograph. But the reason was simple; he had to buy his own film.

Even as a free-lance photographer, Fronabarger maintained his affiliation with the newspaper.

"He maintained a dark room at the Missourian, and sold us pictures on a contract basis," said John L. Blue, former managing editor of the newspaper.

Fronabarger used a 4 x 5 Speed-Graphic camera for more than half of his career.

"He thought the 35 mm cameras were newfangled, until the 1960s, when the University of Missouri hosted a National Geographic Photographers workshop in Cape Girardeau," said Blue. "All of the Geographic people were top-notch photographers and were using the 35s. Fronabarger decided to try one. He eventually got rid of his Speed-Graphic.

"He did a terrific job with any camera he used," said Blue. "Some of his color work was just great."

Fronabarger took some the first color photographs ever used in Readers Digest. The pictures were of the 10-mile rose garden between Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

It wasn't until two stints as a teacher and principal at Blodgett and Bismarck schools that Fronabarger found his niche in newspapers.

He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri from 1926-1927, and then began as a cub reporter for the Southeast Missourian on Oct. 27, 1927.

During the early years of his career, photographs were seldom used in the newspaper. So Fronabarger reported on crime, sports, county fairs, floods and anything else that was happening.

"He covered some major events during his early years at the Missourian," said Blue. "Later, he wrote an outdoors column Hook, Line & Sinker. When he gave that up, he started writing business news."

Some of his major stories included the May 1937 flood in Cape Girardeau, a double hanging in New Madrid, the American Legion Golden Troopers in Miami, and 1949 tornado in Cape Girardeau. He conducted a personal interview with Harry Truman in a small hotel in Caruthersville.

It was July, 24, 1964, when he began a business column in the Southeast Missourian called the Metro Report. He kept track of the city's business happenings until his retirement in 1986.

In 1988, a collection of his photographs was exhibited at the SEMO Arts Council Gallery 100, and later at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Fronabarger had a warehouse of stories collected over the years. One of the most famous (or infamous) tales he told was of "The Lion Hunt."

The late Denver M. Wright, wealthy big game hunter and St. Louis leather goods manufacturer, decided in 1932 to stage a lion hunt. It was held on Towhead Island near Commerce.

Things did not go smoothly for the hunt from its inception. There were protests over releasing two aged circus lions for Wright and his cronies to track down. But the hunt could not be ruled illegal.

Fronabarger was on the scene to cover the event, along with reporters from other newspapers. When he and his news pals were forced off the island the night before the hunt, they decided to do a little lion hunting of their own.

In a 1988 interview, Fronabarger said he and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune went back to the island later that night.

"We got the lions. We killed 'em with a submachine gun we got from a deputy sheriff," he said. "Then we took the lions to Thebes.

"Wright raised holy hell. He wanted me fired," Fronabarger said. But his job survived.

Fronabarger was born April 24, 1904 in Oak Ridge. His mother died with his birth. He lived with his maternal grandmother until age four, when she died. He then went to live with his paternal grandparents. He attended Oak Ridge High School, where he got his first taste of the world of commerce. While still a student, he worked as the school janitor and received $100 for the year's work.

On Feb. 14, 1926, he married May Whitener at Fredericktown. She preceded him in death Aug. 14, 1987.

He is survived by one son, John W. Fronabarger of Phoenix, Ariz.

Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements, which are incomplete.