Two guys in the same boat

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)
Paula and I were on a ferry between Marblehead and Kelleys Island, in Lake Erie, when the guy next to me noticed my West Virginia University School of Journalism sweatshirt. We got to talking about our newspaper experience. I told him I had been at the Akron Beacon Journal for the final 26 of my 43 years on newspapers when I retired in 1996. “I worked there, too,” he said. “I was city editor with about 20 reporters when I left the Beacon” in 1967. Bruce began at the BJ in 1958. He was on the ferry with a friend. Like us, they set out to enjoy a day on Kelleys Island on a Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend. We talked of people we both knew at the BJ: John S. Knight, Ben Maidenburg, Bob Giles, Al Fitzpatrick, Ben James, Hal Fry, Dan Warner, Polly Paffilas, Betty Jaycox and legendary reporter Helen Waterhouse, a features reporter who enthralled readers but kept copy editors busy cleaning up her copy. Bruce moved on to Michigan to add to his journalism career. I Googled Bruce and found out that he is retired president and publisher of The Daily Oakland Press in Pontiac, MI, in his multiple-newspaper career and is a former president of the Michigan Press Association. Bruce and Natalie, who died in 2008, lived in upscale Orchard Lake –- with only a few thousand people -- since 1983, where Bruce has been mayor (2000-2004), councilman and planning commissioner. Bruce is a member of two bank boards and a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. Bruce still keeps his hand in journalism as editor of the Orchard Lake Chronicle. Among the residents of Orchard Lake, southwest of Pontiac and northwest of Detroit, is singer/songwriter Bob Seger. The four of us got off the ferry, which carries cars and people to Kelleys Island, and went our separate ways. As usual, Paula and I did a lot of walking for our sightseeing, probably three miles on the four-by-two-miles island. It helps my 15-month-old bionic knee. If any BJ old-timers want to contact Bruce, his email address is: bhmcintyre@comcast.net