After 46 years and my story completely told, it’s time to move on.
Forty-six years is a long time to do anything.
In some ways, I guess I’d qualify as a unicorn. I walked off the UNC (Tar Heel born, Tar Heel bred) campus in 1977. I walked into a newsroom and never left.
I’ve done just about every job you can do in a newsroom.
I’ve been through the great times and tumult. But I always said I would know when it’s time to walk away.
Now’s my time. I’m retiring from my position as executive editor of The Herald.
I’ve had enough stress, enough long hours, enough exacting demands. But I’ve also had great fun, laughter, success and made a host of friends. And I’ve lived a huge portion of a really good life in newsrooms.
I’m leaving with my health intact. Evidence of that is that I have a pretty good tennis game.
As for my mental and emotional acuity? Well, I’ll refer to a line from one of my favorite movies, “Roadhouse”: “Opinions do vary.”
I came to Rock Hill eight years ago on what I thought was a temporary assignment. Now, I consider this place one of my many homes. I grew up in Rockingham, N.C., and I’ve lived in Columbus, Ga., Greenville, S.C., and Charlotte. Each place owns a section in my heart.
It’s not the geography, it’s the people. I will not start citing names here. There are too many. And I’m not a person given to long-winded farewells. I know who you are and I won’t forget you. That’s good enough for me.
One thing I hope I accomplished is that you all were left with the feeling that I cared. I cared about the people. I cared about the work. I cared about the words we published.
I’m a person who tries to live out my Christian faith. My sometimes salty language may have thrown you off a bit. But I believe in the practice of the Golden Rule. I believe words give surface impressions, but actions give real-life impact.
And I hope my impact was to make each of you know how much I cared.
That’s my farewell message.
Now, one final story:
As a college freshman, I had a legendary professor named Jim Shuemaker. He asked one day “how do you end a good story?” Now you must know Shuemaker was a tall man with an intimidating presence. He listened to us all with an impatient glare in his eyes.
When we all had our say, he was silent for a moment.
Then he said (and I’ll clean this sentence up for print purposes): “You end a good story with a .... period.”
His point was this: When you’ve done all that is necessary to tell a good story. Don’t feel the need to do more. Just stop.
Well, I’m done telling my story. And this is my cue.
Period.
This story was originally published October 27, 2023 at 12:43 PM.
