T.J. (Joe) Hocking
1889 - 1977

Inducted June 17, 1983

Born in LaCrosse, Wis., on June 16, 1889, Joe Hocking moved with his family to North Dakota when he was about 13. Within two years he had quit school and was working at his first newspaper job, as a “devil” on the Mouse River Standard in Richburg, N.D. He also worked on the Westhope, N.D., Standard, and was still a teenager when he served as foreman of the Willow City, N.D., Eagle, in 1906, and as publisher of the Antler, N.D., American, in 1908.

In 1910, he married Fern Maley in Minot, N.D., and moved to Montana to join G.H. Coulter on the Culbertson Republican. The two men, of differing political views, operated separate editorial pages for a time. They formed a partnership in 1910, and started several northeastern Montana weeklies, including the Poplar Standard, the Scobey Sentinel and the Redstone Review, all the first newspapers in their communities.

Hocking bought out Coulter in 1913, then sold the Republican and moved to Glasgow, where later in the year he bought the Valley County Independent and changed the name to the Glasgow Courier. He was publisher until 1958, when he sold the Courier. He continued to operate an office supply business in Glasgow until 1971. In 1924, Hocking and W.W. Cheely began a newspaper “ready-print” service called the Montana Newspaper Association, but Hocking sold his interest the following year.

He was a prominent member of the Montana Press Association, serving as president and for many years as a member of the MPA’s executive committee. He lobbied energetically at the State Legislature in Helena on behalf of various press and printing bills. He was a well-known Republican, was interested in irrigation and power development, and was an avid supporter of baseball.

He died Oct. 24, 1977 at the age of 88.

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