The syndicated, reader-driven comic panel Pluggers devoted this week's panels to a Dallas man who was its most prolific contributor until his death earlier this year.

Reed Hoover, a retired dry-goods wholesaler as well as an artist and paleontology and history buff, died March 25. He was 88.

Just a few of the hundreds of Pluggers cartoons submitted by Reed Hoover of Dallas (Brookins Art / Brookins Art)

All this week, Gary Brookins, the Virginia-based writer of Pluggers, has been rerunning some of Hoover's greatest hits in honor of the Highland Park High graduate. A small box at the corner of each panel reads, "A Classic in memory of Reed Hoover (1931-2019), Dallas, Texas."

"Reed was our most frequent contributor, regularly sending wonderful ideas, usually with a clever twist," Brookins wrote on his Facebook page. "I could almost see what must've been a twinkle in his eye as he wrote out the idea on a small, lined sheet of paper."

Brookins, who took over the panel in 1997, estimated that he had used about 200 of Hoover's ideas and still had some "in reserve" that might come into play. The artist relies on reader submissions, called "Pluggerisms," to caption its anthropomorphic depictions of working-class Americans "plugging along" as they struggle with technological advances.

"Reed will be greatly missed in Pluggerville," Brookins wrote.

In a 2017 Dallas Morning News story, Hoover said he liked to think he had a good sense of humor.

"If things in my own life strike me as funny, I sort of figure that others will see them the same way," he said.

One of Hoover's 2014 submissions featured a member of the "Pluggers Spit and Whittle Club" boasting to pals that he'd programmed his DVR all by himself, while another recast "drones" as over-talkative park-bench companions.

Preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Mary Sue Shockley, Hoover was a paleontology enthusiast and participated in numerous paleontological digs, according to an obituary published in March. He was one of the early explorers of what is now called Inner Space Caverns and was recognized for his role in discovering and documenting the oldest in-situ archaeological site in Texas' North Sulphur River.

He produced paintings, sculptures and jewelry and occasionally exhibited at one-man and group art shows. He also wrote poetry and short stories and enjoyed flying, skydiving, fishing and time spent with his grandkids.

He is survived by three children, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.