Wednesday, December 11, 2024
If you’re over a certain age, you’re sure to remember the advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer from a couple of decades ago. The ads featured actor Jonathan Goldsmith as a bearded, debonair older gentleman who always had some humorous or outrageous story that conveyed upon him the moniker of “The Most Interesting Man in the World.”
We’ve probably all met people at some point in our lives that we find so pleasantly interesting that we feel as though we could sit and listen to them talk and tell stories for hours on end. One of those people for me will always be the late writer and Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jon McConal.
Jon McConal’s name resonates with readers across Texas, especially those who followed the pages of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. For more than four decades, McConal brought a unique perspective to the people and places of his beloved home state, capturing stories as big as Texas itself. Known for his ability to paint pictures with words, McConal didn’t just write about Texas—he celebrated it. Through columns, features, and books, he documented the highways, byways, and hidden gems of the Lone Star State, connecting readers to the soul of Texas.
Beyond the newspaper, Jon’s writings reached readers through his books, each one a love letter to Texas. In books like Jon McConal's Texas, A Walk Across Texas, and Bridges Over the Brazos, Jon’s prose carried readers along on journeys through winding backroads and introduced them to characters that stay with them long after they’ve put the book down. His words made you feel as if you were walking beside him, seeing Texas through his eyes, with all its quirks, charm, and history.
I first met Jon almost thirty years ago now through mutual friends David and Norma Wright. Jon and his wife, Jane, quickly became two of my favorite people. We would often find ourselves at parties and get-togethers at David and Norma’s house on the north end of Lake Granbury, affectionately known as “Wright’s Point.”
One early November night in 2003, as we sat on the back deck at Wright’s Point looking out onto Lake Granbury, someone made mention of the fact that we were coming up on the fortieth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination in November of 1963. Knowing that I was an avid student of the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination, Norma looked at Jon and asked him, “Jon, have you ever told Micky about your connection to the Kennedy assassination?”
Obviously, I was immediately curious. Of course, Jon initially downplayed it and almost shrugged it off as a joke, but I persisted in wanting to know the story. In what can best be described as being reminiscent of the scene in “Jaws,” where Quince starts telling the story of his being a crew member aboard the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, Jon begins telling us the story.
As a young reporter with the Star-Telegram, Jon’s life took a surprising turn when he found himself at the heart of one of America's most pivotal moments—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In a twist that sounds almost stranger than fiction, Jon became part of the story when he was asked to serve as a pallbearer at the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin.
November 22, 1963, marks a day that America will never forget. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas shocked the world, leaving a nation grappling with grief and countless questions. Reporters from all over the world scrambled to cover the unfolding tragedy, and Jon was among the many journalists on the scene. His reporting focused on the reactions of Texans and the somber events that followed Kennedy's death.
However, Jon’s story took an unexpected twist in the days following the assassination, as the spotlight shifted to Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin. Oswald was shot and killed on national TV by nightclub owner Jack Ruby just two days after the assassination, making his own funeral a strange and subdued event. It was here that Jon would find himself not only covering a story but unwittingly becoming part of it.
Jon, who had gone to report on the event, quickly realized that the funeral director was in a predicament: there was no one to carry Oswald's casket. With no mourners on hand but Oswald’s family, funeral director Paul Groody and local police officers drafted six men to help carry the coffin.
Of the six men the police called upon to help carry Oswald’s casket, two, including Jon and reporter Jerry Flemmons, were from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. One was the late Associated Press reporter Mike Cochran, and the other was United Press International reporter Preston McGraw. One’s identity has been disputed for years, and the final man’s identity has never been known and remains a mystery to this day.
In an interview years later, Jon described the moment with his characteristic dry humor, admitting that he hadn’t expected to end up carrying the casket of one of the most notorious figures in American history.
When Jon finished telling us his story that evening, you could have heard a pin drop. More than anyone else I’ve ever known, Jon McConal was a master storyteller. On several occasions after that, Jon graciously showed me some of his mementos from those days back in November of 1963 and related many of his memories from that period of his life.
Though sadly no longer with us, Jon’s contributions live on through his columns, books, and the stories he left behind. He saw Texas not just as his beat but as his life’s work, treating each piece he wrote as a love letter to the state he adored. His legacy as a writer, storyteller, and accidental participant in one of history’s most infamous events speaks to his dedication to journalism and his sense of humor about life’s strange twists.
Jon McConal is a true Texas original. He brought the tales of the Lone Star State to life and, for one surreal moment, found himself in the story of a lifetime. For me, Jon McConal was most definitely “The Most Interesting Man in the World.”
micky@hcnews.com
