Joseph White McBride was born in Arkansas to a Methodist pastor of churches in Arkansas and Oklahoma. After graduating high school, he lived at Tipton, Oklahoma, and worked as a clerk in a retail store and as a civil engineer assistant. Mr. McBride entered Hendrix College in Arkansas and later attended the University of Oklahoma in 1923. He and his wife of three weeks, Clella, moved immediately to Oklahoma City after receiving his B.S. in Business Administration in 1928. After serving at posts at different papers throughout the area in the advertising department and as business manager, he met with James Nance, editor and publisher of the Walters Herald in 1934. In 1935 the men formed a partnership which, in 1960, consisted of five plants publishing eight newspapers, and one job printing plant. Mr. McBride was a regent of the University of Oklahoma for more than 22 years and even served as acting president of the university for a short time. Mr. McBride helped organize the Oklahoma State Health Association and the first Alumni Association for the O.U. School of Journalism and served as the first president of each group. Among many other honors, Mr. McBride was given the Distinguished Alumni Award of the University of Oklahoma and was named, posthumously, to the Newspaper Hall of Fame.