MSU Honors Late Journalist

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — A Mississippi journalist who died two years ago will have some of his work on display at a local university.

Family and friends of Orley Mason Hood, Jr. honored the award-winning newspaper columnist, Thursday, at Mississippi State.

Thanks to a donation from his family, Hood’s papers will now be housed at MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library.

Hood’s wife says his columns had quite the following.

“People related to Orley because many of the things that he wrote about – our family, the experiences we were having – they were having too. He just made it a lot funnier for them,” said Mary Anne Hood, Orley’s wife.

The school says it will not only preserve Hood’s papers, but use them for teaching and research.

The 65-year-old died in February 2014 from complications of acute myeloid leukemia.