Farish, Lucius

Lucius “Lou” Farish –

Early Years

Lou was born in 1937 in Plumerville, Arkansas to Claude Dudley Farish and Ruby Harris Farish. Childhood friends and teachers remember him as being very intelligent, and say that he could read a newspaper when he started first grade.  He was an avid reader, and was often seen with a book under his arm, according to one longtime friend.  Although Lou was known as a very private person who did not play sports or join many school clubs, he was elected class president in most, if not all, of his high school years.  He was also valedictorian of his senior class.

When his father died, Lou was a teenager and an only child.  He did not attend college, but worked about 20 years for the U. S. Postal Service, and also served about 20 years in the Arkansas National Guard, while he continued to educate himself through the acquisition of a large personal library.  As those who knew him would agree, Lou was knowledgeable about a surprising number of subjects, and had an encyclopedic memory for information he had read or heard, including details of UFO-related events and research.

UFO Newsclipping Service

By his teen years, Lou had developed a curiosity regarding unexplained phenomena, including UFOs, and within a few years he had developed a network of contacts with others interested in the subject. By the 1970s, he was attending national Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) symposia and writing articles for UFO magazines and journals, including several coauthored with Jerome Clark about one of Lou’s areas of special interest and knowledge, pre-1947 UFO reports.  He served as Co-Editor (1977-1990) with Rod Dyke, and then as Editor (1991-2007) of the UFO Newsclipping Service, a monthly compilation of the best UFO-related newspaper articles from around the world. Prior to the Internet and cable TV UFO documentaries, the UFO Newsclipping Service was one of the better sources of UFO reports for researchers. Many UFONS subscribers also corresponded and exchanged UFO-related information with Lou, and through these exchanges he developed many longtime friendships around the U. S. and the world.

Ozark UFO Conference

In 1988, Bill Pitts of Fort Smith, Arkansas held a UFO conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Lou decided that there was a need for an annual UFO conference in that region of the country.  From 1989 through 2009 he directed the Ozark UFO Conference, considered by some researchers to be one of the best UFO conferences in the country, with a typical attendance of 400 – 600 people from hundreds of miles around.  Lou wanted the conference to be as affordable and accessible as possible, so he scheduled it on the second weekend in April every year, just before the more expensive tourist season motel rates took effect in Eureka Springs. Also, he charged less than $50 for the three-day conference, which usually included at least nine speakers, some from as far away as Russia.  Because of the quality of the conference speakers, the laid-back and conversation-friendly environment of the Inn of the Ozarks, and the natural springtime beauty of Eureka Springs, many attendees routinely reserved a room for the following year as they checked out at the end of each conference.  For many, the conference was like a big annual homecoming experience to look forward to.  After 20 years, Lou stepped aside and turned the leadership of the conference over to Lee Clinton, who had managed the conference audiovisual production for most of those years.  In 2013, Lee passed on to Dolores Cannon the leadership of of what will be renamed the Ozark Mountain UFO Conference.

Online Obituary and Tributes

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Periodicals:

  • UFO Newsclipping Service – Incomplete set of Issues circa 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 (Dennis Stacy Collection)