As an editor and publisher, Harry Mell Ayers earned the respect of his employees, colleagues, and community.
Ayers began his career at Alabama State Teachers College (Jacksonville State University), editing the school’s newspaper. Ayers worked for several papers in Anniston before he bought the Hot Blast and the Evening Star and merged the papers, creating the Anniston Star. Ayers left the paper and served in the Army as a Captain in World War I. After the war, he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the Alabama National Guard. After the war, he resumed his post of editor and publisher of the Anniston Star and married Edel Yetterboe. Being a journalist, Ayers was drawn to politics, and his first introduction to politics came as the manager of Thomas E. Kilby’s successful gubernatorial campaign. A decade later, Ayers served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. During World War II, Ayers served as chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the Anniston Chamber of Commerce where he met many high-ranking army officers. Ayers was instrumental in the re-opening of Fort McClellan after it was de-activated, a service for which he received the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, the second-highest decoration awarded to civilians. As a civic leader, Ayers was involved in the Alabama State Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club; a supporter of Jacksonville State University; Bible class teacher at Parker Memorial Baptist Church; and president of the Alabama Press Association. In 1969, for his service to journalism, he was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor.
