“Supper table stories,” is a collection of 11 stories he wrote during his 25 years working for the U.S. World News and Report.

Lord now lives in Falls Church, Va., outside of Washington, D.C., where he is officially retired but busy as ever, he said.

Lord worked for 22 years for the UPI wire service as a reporter and serving in variety of editorial positions in Jackson and Memphis, Columbia, S.C., and Nashville. He finished his career with UPI and as the Southern division manager in charge of more than 80 reporters in Atlanta. He covered Freedom Riders, college and pro football, Ross Barnett, Medgar Evers, Barry Goldwater, John F. Kennedy, the Ku Klux Klan, liquor laws and all manned Apollo launches to the moon.

In 1977 Lord went to work for 25 years as U.S. News and World Report in Washington, D.C., where he edited late-breaking news and eventually found a niche writing articles on historical topics. He covered topics such as life in ancient Rome, the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, FDR’s New Deal and a story, “In the Grip of the Civil War,” all of which mixed his career in journalism with a knack for history.

His articles have also appeared in “Reader’s Digest,” “Portrait of America” and “Annual Editions: American History.”

But Lord got his start in the field on the sidelines at Natchez High School.

After a disappointing football season mostly riding the bench on the B-team at Natchez High School in 1953, Lord quit the team and joined the school newspaper staff — the Natchez High Echoes — as a sports editor.

“That was the year Tony Byrne scored 32 touchdowns for Natchez High and (got) the record for Big Eight conference,” Lord said.

Lord said his mother, Elizabeth, eager to get him employed, marched him to “The Natchez Times,” an afternoon daily, where he worked as a proof reader — and so his professional career began.

Lord became news editor of the Times after climbing the ladder quickly when the position became suddenly vacant.

“He was taking the place of white-haired fellow named Doc who had a green eyeshade, two teeth, a pit of whiskey in this drawer, and a craving to play the horses, which he did on a sudden trip to New Orleans from which he never returned,” the introduction of “Supper Time Stories,” explains.