Don Bandy and I never talked much about personal stuff. It was always newspaper talk. So I do not remember much. I have tons of old paper files and dozens of old photo albums. There is too much to go through and I am too old.
I did happen on these two photos. One is of Don and me at a St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1980 in downtown Akron. I have an old Rolleicord hanging from my neck and Don a 35 mm. We were not covering the parade. We just used to go to events like that together. The other is me looking over Don’s shoulder at my retirement party on March 3, 1995.
I remember we used to go to a few good BJ parties. I remember he would invite us all to his home for a leaf-raking party. I never accepted. I remember that he took my son Bob bowling and that just a few years ago he sent me a big box of fruit from Florida for no reason at all. He moved there to be close to his siblings, but he told me recently he wanted to return to Ohio.
I wish I could remember more.
I worked at the BJ for 30 years–many of them with Don. There were a lot of good writers who didn’t have to sift through the mud, but I will take a plain, old rewrite man any time. Don was the best I ever knew.
Don had the miserable job of getting the monthly weather chart in the paper. We were just getting into use of computers with all the format problems. The weather chart formatting was a bitch for us.
Don usually wrote the weather stories or at least put together the stuff the reporters called in. I find one in my scrapbook headlined “The biggest Snowfall Ever” from Saturday, November 30, 1974 to Monday, Dec. 2. I pasted a photo of my two boys on a snow bank next to Don’s story. Here’s the lead:
By DON BANDY
Beacon Journal Staff Writer
The Akron area was still bogged down today under the heaviest snowfall ever recorded here.
More than 2,000 persons this morning remained in emergency shelters, stranded by the 24.3 inches of snow that paralyzed cities, towns and villages in the five-county area.
The U.S. Weather Bureau reported 10.4 inches of snow fell Sunday and another 7.9 inches Monday. The snowfall, recorded at Akron-Canton Airport, broke a 20-inch record accumulation in November 1963.
[There was more to the story of course--no fancy prose, just the facts. If it sounds like something you read this season, the words were probably stolen from Don]
I will dearly miss my old friend. All I can remember are a few words to a song:
Those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day. . .Oh, yes, those were the days.
~liggett.
5 comments:
You remember the affection and respect you and Bandy had for each other, Harry, and that is enough.
Don was my neighbor, both in the newsroom and on Aqueduct Street. Wish I had been so clever as to throw a leaf-raking party!
Reading his obituary, I was struck by its failure to mention his late wife, Judy, to whom Don was so devoted. I don't think he ever got over her passing. "Together again."
Great catch, Jim. I wrote the obit as it was provided to me by Don's niece, Ruth Burton. I should have remembered Judy. I fixed it on the BJ Alums blog and I also sent Kirkpatrick Funeral Home a revised obit with Judy's name in it. Thanks.
When ever I hear the comment "He's a good guy", Don Bandy comes to mind.
I remember Don as a very sweet man who liked his job, and was crazy about his wife Judy. We talked about how he met her, and how he felt lucky that she'd paid attention to him. I'm glad that they can be together again.
Don was an incredibly good guy. Always kind. I have long missed him at the paper.
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