Forrest Eugene Troy
January 23, 2017
Submitted by: Carol Spear Rice

Forrest J. "Frosty" Troy, an Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame member and founding editor of The Oklahoma Observer, died Thursday at age 83. A wake is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23 and mass celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, both at Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, OKC. Interment will be Saturday afternoon, Jan. 28, at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, McAlester. Born in McAlester June 13, 1933, he was the great grandson of immigrants from County Cork, Ireland and was the sixth of 11 children. He grew up in McAlester and was educated by Benedictine nuns. In 1950 he volunteered for the Army and was sent to Korea. When he returned, he attended the University of Oklahoma and Tulsa University. When Frosty returned from Korea, he worked at the McAlester News-Capital, Muskogee Phoenix and Lawton Constitution. In 1957, he joined The Tulsa Tribune where he spent 13 years, eventually heading the State Capitol and Washington DC bureaus and rising to the position of associate editor. In 1953 Frosty married Helen Nix, also from McAlester. They had two children: Marti and Philip. In 1970 Frosty and Helen purchased The Oklahoma Observer and changed it into a journal of commentary on politics, government and social issues. The Observer’s motto was then and remains today, "To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable". Frosty wrote extensively about public, vo-tech and special education as well as politics and the free enterprise system. He had a long-running daily radio commentary on politics and traveled extensively around the U.S. to speak. Frosty was honored with the highest awards from state and national education groups, as well as groups representing business and labor. Among his honors: the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award for his vigorous defense of public education in America, an award he shared with ABC's Peter Jennings; the National Champion of Children Award; national and state Friend of Education awards; Scouting's God & Country Award; the First Amendment Award; PTA's Distinguished Service to Children Award; and the American Legion's Patriotism Award. Frosty was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his writing in the field of mental health. Frosty was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Helen; his parents, James Leo and Ruth (Hopkins) Troy, and brothers Leo Jr., Kevin, Pat, David, John and Bernard. Survivors include daughter, Marti, of Oklahoma City; son, Philip, and daughter-in-law, Jolline, of Wellston; brother, Dr. Jerry Troy, and his wife, Neva, of Edmond; sister Mary Ruth Troy Menegay and her husband, Larry, of Harlingen, TX; sister-in-law Hazel (Nix) Hoornstra and husband Chris of Tulsa; niece Cynthia Troy-Ury of McAlester; and numerous nieces and nephews.

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