On the east side of the Okemah city park along 2nd Street, a town clock is on display on a brick pedestal. On the sides of the brick pedestal are two bronze plaques honoring Walker Stone. The dedication reads:
OKEMAH
TOWN CLOCK
Dedicated to distinguished
Okemah Journalist
WALKER STONE
(1904 - 1973)
Editor-in-Chief of Scripps Howard Newspapers
Graduate of Oklahoma A & M
Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame
Erected 2005 by
Scripps Howard Foundation
and Friends of Walker Stone
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A second plaque tells his story: "Walker Stone, son of John Seborn and Estella (Bynum) Stone, was born one block west of this clock at 203 South 3rd Street on May 8, 1904. He had three brothers and a sister. His father ran a large livery stable and owned a two-story brick general store, which still stands at 205-7 Broadway, its keystone engraved, "J.S. Stone 1908".
"Walker Stone went through high school in Okemah. He attended Oklahoma A & M College (now Oklahoma State University) where he was editor of the college daily, secretary of the student senate and general manager of college publications. He graduated in 1927.
"Walker Stone went to Washington, D.C. to study law at George Washington University. Then he switched career paths. He took a job on the Washington Daily News, a Scripps Howard newspaper, as a copy reader. His journalism career was born.
"He married his college sweetheart, Donna Smith of Stillwater. They had two daughters, Sharon and Lynn.
In Scripps Howard, he advanced rapidly and in 1952 was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Scripps dailies which spanned American from New York to San Francisco.
"As a powerful editor, Walker Stone was close to Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, as well as to noted statesmen like Bernard M. Baruch. He was a friend and mentor of writers such as Ernie Pyle, Robert C. Ruark, Vance Trimble and Jim Lucas. He was a world traveler, interviewing heads of state - but retained his love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing.
"In 1972, Walker Stone received Oklahoma State University's Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service Award and later was elected to the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.
"In the 1960s, Walker Stone discovered and purchased Hawthorn, a 520-acre antebellum farm in the Blue Ridge mountains near Woodville, Virginia. He retired in 1969. He died at Hawthorn March 13, 1973 of a heart attack. His ashes were scattered at Hawthorn.
"A detailed history of the Stone family is available in the Okemah Public Library and Okfuskee County Historical Society."