Storytelling tour to bring Eustace Cockrell’s writings to life

Published 5:47 am Saturday, October 24, 2026

WARRENSBURG — A selection of television writer Eustace Cockrell’s stories will come to life during the inaugural Eustace Cockrell Storytelling Day on Saturday, Oct. 31.

The event is composed of a 90-minute walking tour of historic downtown sites, with storytellers positioned at several of the locations presenting one of Cockrell’s stories from the 1930s and 1940s.

He published over 150 short stories in his career – some of which will be highlighted during the tour. He also wrote for early westerns such as “Have Gun Will Travel” and “Gunsmoke.” He also wrote for programs like “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Cheyenne,” “Man Without A Gun,” and “Naked City.”

“There’s close to 150 stories,” said Roger Coleman, who is married to Eustace Cockrell’s daughter, Elizabeth. “I imagine 30 of them take place here (in Warrensburg). It’s just interesting. I think what this tour does is take these old buildings like [the Masonic Building at 101 E. Market], which is historic. People don’t really care about historic things, but all of a sudden you put a person with it and it gives a little more of a personality.”

Born on Nov. 5, 1909, in Warrensburg, Eustace Cockrell was the son of former Johnson County Circuit Judge Ewing Cockrell and grandson of former U.S. Senator Marion Cockrell. In 1937, he moved to Los Angeles and eventually became one of television’s pioneering writers of the 1950s.

Several of his pre-LA writings centered around happenings in the heart of Warrensburg.

“He put a story like the courthouse, the train station or the Mule Barn,” Coleman said. “It gives a little personality. It makes old buildings come alive a little bit. I think that’s what we’re trying to do. Give it a sense of importance and personality and have some collective to its history. Warrensburg has not done a good job of preserving this comparatively, and they blame it on the University. That’s true. But all we’ve got is stories that we can tell about the town.”

Coleman never knew his father-in-law, who died of a heart attack before he and Elizabeth were married.

The connection to his writing began in the late 1990s, when he received a package of writings from family.

He picked things up more seriously during COVID-19, eventually putting out a six-volume set of his writings.

Coleman’s effort also led to recognition via displays and a film festival showing Eustace Cockrell’s work.

“When you start it, when you put them in Warrensburg, you move to Warrensburg, and you see the community, you read the stories living here, that’s what I’ve done these last few years, they really take on a whole different meaning,” Coleman said. “They really say something about this town, its values and its people. Even though they were written in the 1930s and 1940s.”

Eustace Cockrell Storytelling Day developed out of Coleman’s latest project – The Eustace Cockrell Literacy Tour of Warrensburg – a map that features 21 local sites with synopsis of Cockrell’s local stories.

That map, developed by Coleman, Bruce Uhler and Dan Brigman with assistance from Joyce Dorrell and Jon Taylor, is expected to make its public debut during Eustace Cockrell Storytelling Day. It will be available at Magnolia Mercantile, the Johnson County Historical Society and the Warrensburg Visitor’s Center.

“I haven’t seen it yet,” Coleman said. “It has 21 sites, 21 stories … It’s hard to get somebody to fold the map 16 times. That’s been fun to do, but it’s been a lot of work.”

The tour will begin at 10 a.m. in front of the site where the Cockrell family home once stood – now Brightspeed at 206 E. Market Street.

From there, Coleman and Bruce Uhler will lead tours to featured locations including the Masonic Lodge, Courthouse, Old Drum Statue, Train Depot, Jones Mule Barn and Old Post Office.

Visitors will be introduced to a number of characters, including a journalist, the postman, the judge and the town liar.

Storytellers include Brigman, Molly Dinwiddie, Lisa Irle, Robin Osborne, Scott Umphrey, Gordon Hecht and Elizabeth Coleman.

Event participants will be able to travel on foot or via vehicle. Attendees can RSVP with their name and group size to eustacecockrell@gmail.com by Friday, Oct. 30.

A rain date is slated for Saturday, Nov. 7.

“We’ll celebrate history, we’ll celebrate Warrensburg, and we’ll celebrate storytelling,” Coleman said. “It’s probably what we do best and need to do more of in the future since we don’t have specific locations for people to see.”

Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.