Daniel Marion Feather, Jr. passed away on September 15, 2026.
Dan was born, with ink practically under his fingernails, on Halloween in 1942. At the time of his arrival, his father was away serving as an Army Air Forces pilot during World War II, returning home when Dan was a toddler. Growing up in Big Spring, Texas, and later attending high school in Pilot Point, Dan was the eldest child and only boy in a household with six younger sisters.
His father, uncle, and grandfather were all printers and small town newspaper publishers. His illustrious newspaper career began around age nine with a paper route. By high school, Dan was already setting type and running the printing press with his father at their newspapers in Pilot Point and Whitesboro, TX.
Dan served in active combat in the Vietnam War as the captain of a river attack and patrol boat. Following his military service, he completed his studies and graduated from the University of North Texas. A post-graduation referral from his uncle led him to teach at an overcrowded school on the Air Force base in Altus, Oklahoma.
Dan happily tolerated the crowded conditions for one distinct reason: a cute young teacher who had to cut through his classroom every day just to get to hers. Her name was Cindy Atkison, but it wasn’t long before she changed her last name to Feather.
One year in the classroom was plenty for Dan, who was eager to return to his printer’s-ink roots.
The newlyweds moved to Snyder, Texas, where Cindy taught school and Dan went to work for his uncle at the Snyder Daily News.
In 1972, Dan and Cindy took the leap and purchased the Menard News. Along with the business came an indispensable asset, Dorothy Kerns, who not only kept Dan on task for decades but also became a treasured, lifelong friend.
Running a small-town weekly paper meant Dan was everywhere at once. Most notably, he never missed a single Menard Yellowjacket football game—home or away, rain or shine, in sickness or in health—from 1972 until he sold the paper decades later. For Dan, Cindy, and their two children, summer vacations were practically defined by the annual Texas Press Association Conventions, and no road trip was complete without pulling over in every single town along the way to 'pick up the local paper.'
A proud cornerstone of Menard for over 50 years, Dan invested his heart and soul into the community. He was an active contributor to the Chamber of Commerce, the local Business Men’s Association, and could be found at all manner of events–camera around his neck and pen and notepad in his shirt pocket–4-H events, local awards ceremonies, fire department BBQ sales, school plays, band concerts, PTO meetings, and other community gathering.
Dan had many fine qualities, but punctuality was not one of them. Cindy’s greatest threat to the kids getting ready before school was “if you don’t hurry up, I’ll make you ride to school with Daddy” which meant an automatic tardy… Getting around in a town as small as Menard is quick and easy, but not for Dan. Dan needed to allocate at least an extra 45 minutes for “visitin’” with whomever he came across at the store, post office, or for a chat pulled over on the side of the road, one pickup to the other with the windows rolled down. Lots of “visitin’” happened at The Menard News, where cold beer was available for whomever wanted to stop by for a visit, with the “5 O’Clock Rule” very liberally interpreted. Dan had a curious mind and took the people he met and their stories seriously, no matter their education level, wealth or station in life. Before the era of ubiquitous digital cameras, Dan and Dorothy Kerns kept extra photos in a box at the front of the news office that were available to the public, free of charge. During that era, many children in Menard picked up the first photos ever taken of them from that box.
Dan is survived by his wife of 56 years, Cindy Feather; his son, Dan Feather III and daughter-in-law, Brooke (Houston, TX), and granddaughters Lily and Brette; his daughter, Catherine Kraft (Waco, TX), and granddaughter Abigail; his six sisters and their partners; and numerous nieces and nephews across generations.
A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church on September 19th at 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Dan's honor to the Hope House food pantry.
“Girls, mistakes in the newspaper are like grapes. They come in bunches.”
- Dan to Paige & Collyn at Menard News