Tulsa, OK -
Former news anchor Bob Hower passed away Saturday morning. He helped make Channel 8 what it is today, and we are remembering the light he brought to all of us.
Bob was born in Tulsa and attended Central High School. He began his career in broadcasting shortly after graduating from high school. The year was 1942.
In college, he worked for KTUL radio. He would go on to anchor the first television newscast in Tulsa.
Hower retired after 35 years in broadcasting. A tribute in photographs and memories was done to honor Bob's retirement.
In addition to anchoring the news, Bob did a feature called "Bob Hower's Tulsa." One interview featured country music's Jim Halsey.
Halsey says he and the people in his company believe that the problems in this world will be solved by people and not politicians, and that music can bring people together.
Back in the 70's, Bob, along, with Don Woods and Chris Lincoln, were known as 'The News Guys', anchoring news, weather and sports for Channel 8. The marketing slogans "8's The Place" and "The News Guys" were staples in the 70's and 80's.
Longtime Channel 8 employee Betty Thompson is affectionately known as "Mom," and knew Hower.
"Several years ago when you mentioned Channel 8 you automatically thought of Bob Hower," Thompson says.
Bob could spot talent. He hired her and started Channel 8's Waiting Child program. The song was done by the now famous recording artist Oleta Adams.
"They were introduced and he was telling her about the Waiting Child [program]," Betty says.
But he hadn't found anyone to write the music.
"So she said let me have it," Thomspon said about Adams, "and 10 minutes later she came back and the music was written. Adams was an adopted child herself.
Bob's passion for Waiting Child came from a place of pain in his own life. His third daughter was killed in an accident at the lake.
"They went to an area and it was full, and they went to another area, and she fell out of the back of a truck," Thompson says, "And it was just terrible for Bob, and that's what got him started into the Waiting Child."
When asked what Bob missed about being behind the news desk and Channel 8, he didn't hesitate.
"What I miss is the kids," Hower says.
Bob was 87 years old and helped inspire the adoption of thousands of Oklahoma children. His legacy lives on.
