Gordon Baxter

Gordon Baxter (December 25, 1923 – June 11, 2005), nicknamed Bax, was a well-known Texas radio personality, an author of books and a columnist for newspapers and magazines.

He lived near Beaumont during most of his professional years and was probably best known locally as a radio heartland humorist in the Jean Shepherd tradition.

Despite a slow start in the cockpit and as a writer, by the end of his writing career he had spent more than 25 years with Flying, written 13 books and contributed to a Microsoft CD-ROM title, World of Flight.

After the war he initially worked as a Mississippi River boatman, then became a familiar voice on Port Arthur and Beaumont radio stations.

Baxter's discovery came because he pushed into editor Archie Trammell's hands three articles about flying, each originally published in the Kountze, Texas weekly newspaper.

His shortest column, published in 1973, reflects the humor present in all of his writing: He and his second wife, Diane, lived in Village Creek, near Beaumont.

Based on an Ambrose Bierce short story, Baxter plays the lead role of Confederate Sharpshooter Jerome Searing.