Gloria Irwin (front), Barb & Bob Springer (back)

Worldwide ‘neighborhood,’ right, Gloria?

Social media is a great informer.

Just ask Gloria Irwin, who wrote most of the articles about the breakup of Knight Ridder, but this time wrote about a reunion – 4,566 miles away in Hawaii!

Gloria explains:

“It was a magical dinner, thanks to Facebook. Friends Bob Springer and Barbara J. Hipsman Springer live 20 miles from us but are NEVER home.

“Through a recent post, we learned they came to Hawaii the day before we did. Katie Byard and Anne Reid: Eat your heart out.”

So the four of them got together for dinner in the Pacific, far from Ohio.

This reminds me of the time that Paula and I learned via Facebook that former BJ photographer Don Roese and wife Maryann would be visiting former State Desk reporter Cathy Strong in New Zealand.

We already had set up OUR trip to New Zealand and Australia, so we contacted Cathy and Don via emails. Don greeted us when we landed at the Auckland airport, where Don and Maryann were waiting to take off for their return to America after spending a week at Cathy’s beach home on the North Island.

Later, Cathy flew from her Wellington home to Auckland for a reunion, spending the day with us and showing us around the town.

It was a BJ reunion 8,458 miles from home, thanks to the social media.

But, then, Gloria and Bob, who retired from Kent State after Bob’s sojourn at Ol’ Blue Walls, know how that works.