They say that all good things must come to an end, and for me and the Tribune, that will be this Friday. After 19 years of bringing you the community news here in the west end of Bowie County, it is time to end this chapter and look ahead to start a new one.
Over the years here at the Tribune, I have had the privilege of meeting so many of you and writing the stories of your lives. Thousands of pictures of your kids and families have been taken and it has been an honor for me over the years to have been given the opportunity to look into your lives and follow along with the story of all of the people and communities that make up the fabric of where we live. Countless ball games, banquets, city council and school board meetings, and everything in between have become a part of me.
In 1996 my wife and I moved our little family to Avery from Dallas. Our kids were just 5, 4 and six months old when we first stepped into the little white house on Savannah Cemetery Road. I went from the Dallas Morning News to doing graphic design for a little country business in Paris.
In 2001, my time at the Tribune began.
Back then I was just a beat writer/sportswriter and the town of DeKalb was my beat.
Following that first day, the friendships began to evolve and the love for the town that I now hold dear took its first breaths. Twenty-five years later, those three little kids are all grown up, and all three of them have worked for the Tribune over the years. Our oldest, Allyson, has spent 15 years of her 35 years at the Tribune, and all of you know how important she has been to what this newspaper has accomplished.
The walls of our office in downtown New Boston are literally covered with press association awards. Those awards proclaim that the work, the hours and the care for our community are far more than just a job to each of us.
They are a symbol of the effort to be the hometown voice of our little corner of the world, and they are clarification that we have done well as journalists.
But so much more important than awards, recognition and even profitability, are the relationships that have been forged. Since becoming publisher in 2014, I have told everyone on our staff that the most important thing is relationships with you, our readers and our community. The tagline for the Tribune has been since 2014, “community news, for the world you live in.” We strive week after week to be the community watchdog, the community cheerleader, and the voice of truth in a world inundated with fake news and social media blather.
I would be remiss if my last words in this newspaper did not include some heartfelt “thank yous” to those who have contributed to the journalist writing this piece today. Please bear with me as this list is fairly long.
Thanks go out to Rip England and Chad Duffer. These two men were the first I called in 2014 and asked the simple question of…what do I do? To their credit, both gave sage advice and have supported the effort all these years. Though she is no longer with us, much thanks and credit has to go to Miss Ann Pope, who allowed me to sit in her office so she could tell me all that I was doing wrong, and how to do better. I will never forget her. The same could be said for those who made me their friends in the early days like Larel and Gayla Rankin, the whole Crouch family, especially my dear friend Bruce, and I cannot forget my friends Abbi Capps and Paula Booth.
What many of you may not know is that my days here at the Tribune would have been over long ago if it were not for one person. She became the steel in my spine, the ever-present critic, and the encouraging word when I needed it most. That was who my friend Joni Haldeman was for me, and without her this message would have never been penned.
So many others have been a part of this that there simply isn’t room on the page to name them all. This page could be filled with names such as Kyle and Leann Groom, Heather Russell, Kyle Barrett, the Bates family, Paula and Curtis Cole and a thousand others that have been there always. I add to that with a name most will not know, but for the last 12 years I simply would not have made it without my friend and colleague Mark Henry.
Finally, no goodbye to our readers would be complete without a thank you to all of you who walked the road with me and my family as we dealt with the illness and passing of my wife, Patty Jean.
My Patty was an integral part in every aspect of my time here at the Tribune. She allowed me to be gone for hours and days, she allowed me to put myself in harms way with things like the KKK, and the hours of my life fighting a reservoir named Marvin Nichols.
She was infinitely proud at her passing that that lake had not seen a single shovel of dirt moved.
So, one chapter closes, and another begins. I do not know at this point what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future, and as long as He allows, that future will be spent right here…in West Bowie County…the community that will always hold my heart.
