CALLAN, CLAUDE CLEMENT (1881-1956). Claude Clement Callan, humorist and newspaper columnist, was born in 1881 in either Menard or Coleman, Texas, the son of James Joseph and Margaret Jane (Sheen) Callan. He worked for his father on the Coleman Voice and married Jessie Garrett, with whom he had two children. In 1906 Callan was living in Brady. He started writing a column entitled "Poor Pa" in 1925, and by the 1930s it was syndicated in 101 newspapers. Another of his columns, "Cracks of the Crowd," was also nationally syndicated. Callan moved to San Antonio in 1936. For a time he wrote daily columns for the Fort Worth Star-Telegramqv and the Kansas City Star. He also wrote for the Ladies Home Journal and worked as an editor for the Curtis Publishing Company. He died in San Antonio on April 17, 1956, and was buried in Brady.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brady Standard, April 20, 1956. Menard County Historical Society, Menard County History-An Anthology (San Angelo: Anchor, 1982). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl
