Retired BJ librarian Sandy Bee Lynn and retired BJ regional issues reporter and deputy Business editor Dave Scott are enjoying the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada.

Sandy reports that they’ve seen the British musical “Me and My Girl,” Irish playwright Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa” and Bernard Shaw’s “Saint Joan” (as in Joan of Arc).

The photo shows that they’re eating well, too.

Sandy was with husband Glenn Lynn. Dave was with wife Jane Gaab Scott. They live in Copley. Jane’s sister, Katie Gaab-Shaw, is married to former BJ newsroom editor Webb Shaw, no relation to Bernard Shaw. Webb retired in 2014 as Vice President of Editorial Resources at J. J. Keller & Associates in Neenah, Wisconsin.

The Shaw Festival began in 1962 when Ontario playwright Brian Doherty staged a “Salute to Shaw.”

In 2011 Paula Tucker and I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for Shaw’s “My Fair Lady.” It’s a quaint town, made for strolling and gawking. We stayed at the Canterbury Inn (alluding, maybe, to Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”).

Stuart paper’s article on pardon

It’s no surprise to those who worked at the BJ with Stuart Warner, but his New Phoenix Times, a weekly with daily online articles, unleashed an outstanding story about President Trump pardoning former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Mexican-American groups are outraged. Arpaio was convicted of profiling those of Mexican ancestry and stopping them, even if they weren’t violating any laws or were in America legall.

Immigration rights activist Salvador Reza said Trump is “throwing the finger” at the courts and the Justice Department. Arpaio pled guilty in both cases.

To read the article by Stuart’s staff, click on http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/latino-allies-angered-by-trump-pardon-of-arpaio-9629265

Former Beacon Journal home writer Mary Beth Nord Breckenridge, who left the BJ to sell homes, started it all.

On August 9 she posted on Facebook:

“Ran into Tim Hayes today. He is in the process of selling his house and moving to Florida, where his sister lives. He looks great and said he's still riding his bike ‘somewhat.’ "

Well, that kick-started the search for Tim, who was part of the 2001 exodus when 500 years of BJ experience left the building. With all that investigative skill, we shouldn’t be surprised.

During the search for Tim (maybe they can make a movie along the lines of “The Search for Red October”?), BJ consumers writer Betty Lin-Fisher found out that Tim’s first name is Arthur.

“Tim, Tim, where Arthur thou?” became the rallying cry for former 44 E. Exchange Street occupants.

Betty added: “If you want to call him, John Olesky, it’s (330) 867-3198.”

I called but his Merriman Road phone was disconnected with no forwarding number available.

Former Reference Librarian Diane Lynch once crossed paths with Tim in the Tetons or Yellowstone (she wasn’t sure which). But we didn’t send anyone to search for Tim in either postcard-scenery wonders of nature.

Former BJ copy editor Charles Montague put out an APB . . . to Tim:

“Tim, if you read this (Facebook thread), once you get settled, give Mary Beth or Olesky your home address, phone and email so that some of your old friends and Copy Desk mates can pay you a friendly visit and buy lunch or dinner. Most of us do get to Florida from time to time.”

Well, as I found out later, Tim isn’t on Facebook, so that was a flare that he never saw.

Finally, Betty Lin-Fisher posted:

“ABJ Friends: I just spoke to Tim Hayes. After all of the discussion a few weeks ago, I decided to stop by his house on my way to work last week to see if he was there. I left him a note and asked him to call, if he wanted. He was in Florida meeting the movers when I stopped by, he said.

“He's doing great and, as Mary Beth reported already, he is moving to Jacksonville, Florida to be near his sister and a niece. His sister is in poor health and he has been wanting to move to Florida since he retired 16 years ago, but said it's time now. Plus, he used to have three nieces and his sister in four different cities and now at least his sister and niece are in Jacksonville, so they'll be nearby.

“He will rent a house and said he doesn't want to be a homeowner any more and worry about home maintenance. He may be leaving as early as this weekend since his belongings are already in Florida (he said he only moved one chair -- his recliner).

“His house sold within days and a lot quicker than he anticipated. He did not have a recent photo to share, but said it was OK to share his cell phone number 330-310-6571 and his email timhayes3009@gmail.com  for anyone who wants to catch up.”

Betty provided more background:

“Tim was on the copy desk when I first arrived at the Beacon in 1995. I have fond memories of his take-out orders to Jack Horner's, DaVinci's and Dontino's!”

Well, Betty must have given Tim my phone number because he called me. At last, the Search for Tim in August is over!

Tim laughed when I told him there was a Facebook posse trying to locate him. His response: “Where’s Waldo, huh?”

Tim said Sally, his only sibling, lives on Ponte Vedra Beach, which is 18 miles from downtown Jacksonville. His niece lives on Jacksonville Beach, just north of Ponte Vedra.

Tim’s apartment is in Jacksonville.

His address is:

10135 Gate Parkway N (as in North)

Apartment 510

Jacksonville, FL   32246

 “Between my home in Akron and my apartment in Jacksonville,” Tim said, “the only furniture I have is one recliner. It’s a comfortable recliner, though.”

Tim was in his Akron house when he called me, sitting, I'm guessing, in a recliner.

New furniture will be delivered to Tim’s apartment in Jacksonville on Thursday. The Akron house sale will close Monday or Tuesday, but Tim doesn’t have to be there for it. He’ll leave Ohio in a few days.

Tim said he made the move because “I don’t have family here” (in Ohio). Tim and Sally grew up in Cincinnati. He is single.

So, The Hunt for Tim in August is over. And you know how to track him down in his Florida apartment, or on the phone or via email.

Just don’t try to Facebook message him.

Tim was part of the 2001 BJ exodus when 510 years of BJ experience left the building in one day. He was a regular at the monthly BJ retirees lunches at Papa Joe’s in the Merriman Valley till that also died for lack of attendance because too many participants passed away.

He left Ol’ Blue Walls on the same day as sports columnist Tom Melody, chief artist Art Krummel, the copy desk’s Sandy Levenson, columnist Mickey Porter, Features Department editor Joan Rice, superb writer Bill Bierman, Reference Librarian Diane Lynch, copy editor George Davis (still hanging around as a part-time contributor), Metro reporters Bill Canterbury, Bob Hoiles and Dennis McEaneney, Mark Braykovich, reporter Barb Mudrak Galloway, columnist Steve Love, Jim Quinn, religion writer Laura Haferd and Terence Oliver.

And that, my readers, is the rest of the story.

Froelich burial service September 2

Former BJ reporter Larry Froelich will be buried on Saturday, September 2 in Dover Burial Park in Parral, Ohio, a Dover suburb.

Here is the email I received from his widow, Suzanne Dolezal Froelich:

“John, 

“Here is the notice of my husband Larry's burial in Dover for posting to the BJ blog:

“Burial service for former Akron Beacon-Journal staffer Larry N. Froelich, 77, will be on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 12:30 p.m. at Dover Burial Park, 5651 N. Wooster Ave. with Pastor Dotty Hartzell from St. John’s United Church of Christ officiating. There will be signs to the gravesite.

“Froelich passed away on June 5 after a sudden accident. A memorial service was held in June in Lexington, KY, where he resided with his wife, Suzanne. 

“Thanks very much!

“Suzanne Froelich”

Larry’s first wife was former BJ reporter Janis Froelich, who lives in Tierra Verde, Florida (near St. Petersburg) with her current husband, St. Petersburg photographer Ray Bassett.

Larry Norman Froelich was 77 years old.

He retired from the Lexington News-Leader in 2005 as news editor.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; three children, Mark (Christa) Froelich, Britta (Marc) Spanke and Eric (Stephanie) Froelich; and five grandchildren, Jack, Halle, Lindsay, Clare and Robert. 

Dover Burial Park is off Columbia Road NW in Parral, Ohio.

 

Village Voice ends print history

New York City’s famous alternative weekly, The Village Voice, is joining the ranks of newspapers NOT publishing print versions.

The Village Voice was founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher and author Norman Mailer. It has three Pulitzer Prizes -- Teresa Carpenter in 1981, cartoonist Jules Feiffer in 1986 and Mark Schoofs in 2000.

In 1982 the Voice began domestic partner benefits for gay couples on its staff.

The slide began in 2005, when New Times Media bought the Voice. At least a dozen key leaders were fired or quit by 2012, when Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed Voice Media Group.

Contact info for John Kovatch

I got this email from John Kovatch, retired BJ vice president/finance and administration, married to Carolyn Pope Kovatch:

John Kovatch

Hi John,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the Ohio weather before you head back to The Villages.

Could you add my email and USPS to the BJ Alums when you get a chance?

Email: johnekovatch@aol.com   

Address: 6760B Wales Crossing St NW North Canton, OH 44720

Thanks,

John Kovatch

The Kovatches also have a home in The Villages, Florida, where Paula and I spend our winters away from Ohio’s blustery months.

One winter Paula and I ran into John and Carolyn dancing the night away in The Villages’ Spanish Springs, one of three squares in The Villages which have free live music and dancing every night of the year.

John and Carolyn bought a home in The Village of Charlotte. Paula's house is in The Village of Silver Lake.

Spanish Springs is my favorite of the three Villages squares. It feels more like down-home West Virginia.

John’s career included University of Akron associate vice president/controller, Knight-Ridder vice president finance and administration, Ernest & Young CPA and JEK Accounting Service before his Kent State and Euclid High days.

He’s from Massillon, where Paul Brown began his fabulous coaching career.

BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore, king of the goddammits during his Ol’ Blue Walls time, and Dot are celebrating their 68^th wedding anniversary.

You read that right:

SIXTY EIGHT YEARS !!!

Richmond, Virginia native Tom went from Bluefield, West Virginia, birthplace of John S. Knight, to the BJ after witnessing the demise of three Ohio newspapers (not his fault in any of the times).

But his marriage to Dot has been solidly on track for three score and eight years.

In retirement Tom has been a conductor on the Cuyahoga Valley Park Scenic Railroad.

Tom was adopted by Spotswood and Virgina Moore in Tazewell, Virginia, just across the border from Bluefield. Tom and Dot have four children, including three daughters who were copygirls at the BJ.

That would be Amy Moore, Tom and Dot's youngest daughter; Caroline Jean Krack, their oldest daughter, who lives in Minnesota; Katherine Ann Moore, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, after retiring from the Environmental Protection Agency; and Tom's son, also named Tom.

Tom's 41-year newspaper career was on the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Zanesville News (now defunct), Lorain Journal, Columbus Citizen-Columbus Citizen Journal (both defunct) and the BJ. Plus four years part-time in the Ohio State Patrol headquarters in Columbus, editing the patrol's magazine, The Flying Wheel.

Albert Davis as a sailor and during interview by Congressman Tom Sawyer

Akron’s USS Indianapolis sinking survivor passes away

Albert Morris of Akron, who survived the 1945 Japanese submarine’s topedo sinking of the USS Indianapolis and five nights and four days in shark-infested waters, passed away today.

There are only 19 still alive from the worst U.S. Navy disaster in history, including James “Jim” Jarvis, 90, who lives in Lake Township.

Morris was among the 316 sailors from a crew of 1,196 who survived the initial strike and days of dehydration and shark attacks that followed. The 880 deaths was the worst loss of life at sea in Navy history.

No one knew the Indianapolis’ whereabouts because its mission was so secret. It was delivering parts for Little Boy, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

To read about the harrowing documentary, as told by the survivors, click on http://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/this-amazing-documentary-tells-the-tragic-story-of-the-uss-indianapolis-in-the-crews-words

How the Blade cut to front of national coverage

Lauren Lindstrom

Eagle-eyed copy editor Toledo Blade Tommy Gallagher put the Ohio newspaper in the spotlight for its coverage of the car that rammed through a crowd and killed and injured in Charlottesville, Virginia during a white supremacists rally.

Gallagher blew up the photo and saw that the car had an Ohio license plate with a “48” county registration tag. That meant it was registered in Lucas County, where Toledo is the county seat.

Three Blade reporters checked voter and vehicle registration records and found that the car was registered to James Fields, Jr. of Maumee, a suburb of Toledo.

Blade reporter Lauren Lindstrom, usually a health reporter, went to the address and got an interview with the driver’s mother. The Blade also went to Florence, Kentucky, where the driver grew up and talked to his teacher.

Before police announced Fields’s arrest and released his mugshot.

Lindstrom made an important point in this day of newspaper layoffs and Internet “news reporting”:

“I think it shows the benefit of local news. We’re the hometown paper, and we were the ones on the ground. We were able to get there quickly.

My thanks to Roger Mezger, who was pretty eagle-eyed himself during his BJ days, for tipping me off about the article in the Columbia Journalism Review.

If you want to congratulation Tommy Gallagher, his email address is tgallagher@theblade.com

To read the CJR article, click on https://www.cjr.org/analysis/toledo-blade-charlottesville.php?utm_content=buffer39b9e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Former BJ photography director Michael Good and wife Sally Good are celebrating their 46^th wedding anniversary.

Michael owns Michael Good Photography, his business on Puget Sound. They live in Seattle, where they moved in 1998.

The photos that Michael takes of weddings were named Seattle Bride Magazine’s Best of 2009.

Michael is an Ohio State graduate from Ashland, Ohio.

In his career Michael also was photography director at the Washington Times, the Lorain Journal and the New York Journal-American.

-30- for Murv Perry

Murvin Perry, 95, former Kent State Journalism School director, passed away Tuesday, August 1 in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Murv Perry

Kent State followed stays at South Dakota State, Iowa and Kansas State before stops at Ohio State and, finally, East Tennessee State.

Not bad for a South Dakota farm boy.

In retirement Murv was restoring his 1966 Mustang Fastback and 1935 Ford Cabriolet, and authoring “Murv’s Motoring Memories,” as he had for more than two decades for the Early Ford V-8 Club.

Murv’s obituary:

Murvin Henry Perry - Johnson City, Tenn.

April 28, 1922 – Aug. 1, 2017

Stop the presses!  A great journalist and muckraker has left the pressroom. 

Dr. Murvin Henry Perry of Johnson City, Tennessee passed away Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at the age of 95.  Murvin was born April 28, 1922 in Bruce, South Dakota. 

He moved to Johnson City in 1979 and retired from East Tennessee State University in 1988.  He is survived by his wife Rita married for 65 years, his five children, Gail, Mark, Scott and wife Heidi, Todd and Chris and wife Patty, and his grandchildren, Rebecca, Heather, Kent, Brock and Kristen.

He was the eldest of 10 children born to Earl and Lorraine Perry.  He was preceded in death by his brothers Lyle, Dale, and Wayne, and sisters Bonnie, Donna, and Doris.  He is survived by his three younger brothers Loran, Robert, and Ronald. 

He served in World War II in the Seebees on the South Pacific Island of Tonga Tabu.  He returned home to teach high school English in South Dakota.  He earned his Bachelor's degree from South Dakota State and his Master's and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. 

His career started in 1945 at South Dakota State University in Brookings South Dakota.  In 1952 he moved to the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, and in 1959 to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, and in 1964 to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio and in the summer of 1981 taught at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In 1979 he moved to East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee where he retired in 1988.

During a career spanning nearly 70 years, Dr. Perry played a national role in both professional journalism and higher education.  

He was a member of the first team of American journalists allowed to go behind the Iron Curtain.  He served as an officer of chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and a member of its national committees on Freedom of Information and Historic Sites, as a member of the Accrediting Committee of the American Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications for 12 years and as a member of the screening committee for the Pulitzer Prizes.  

He was on a committee of journalists charged with selecting a journalist to go on a space flight when the Challenger exploded and the project was cancelled.  He played a leading role in the Ohio Newspaper Association's successful campaigns to develop and get sunshine laws passed and to defeat the bar association's efforts to close the courts. 

He taught at six universities, heading accredited professional programs at two. He was honored as a distinguished alumnus of South Dakota State University, for professional achievement by the Society of Professional Journalism, by Tennessee Right to Life for 32 years of pro-life service and by East Tennessee State University for Lifetime Achievement. 

He was a passionate organizer and advocate for the Right to Life movement since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973. 

His book, Murv's Motoring Memories, is a collection of anecdotes, written originally for his column in the newsletter, Ford Words, which he edited for the Early Ford V8 Club for more than 20 years. 

In the last days of his life he completed the writing of a book to be published on Amazon titled "Can We Save These United States?".

The Department of Communication at ETSU created the Murvin H. Perry Award for Creative Achievement, which each year honors a student for creative achievement.

Visitation will be at St. Mary's Catholic Church Friday, August 4, 2017 from 10 to 11:30 with a Funeral Mass to follow at 11:30. Burial at Mountain Home National Cemetery will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 2211 E. Lakeview Dr., Johnson City, TN 37601, in his name or to the Tennessee Right to Life.

Memories and condolences may be shared with the Perry family via www.morrisbaker.com .

 

 

Tim Smith is chief of Portage public defenders

Former BJ managing editor Tim Smith was appointed head of Portage County’s Public Defender Office.

That’s for those who can’t afford an attorney and have one appointed by the court. There are seven lawyers in the public defender’s office.

Tim, 73, also is a retired Kent State professor.

Tim got the post on an interim basis when Dennis Lager, who had held the post for 20 years, was put on administrative leave.

Tim resigned as Public Defender Commission chairman to qualify for the interim role. As chairman, Tim said Lager’s ouster was because “the morale in the office needed some addressing.”

The Public Defender Commission includes attorneys Mark Hanna, Bill Lentz and Bill Simon and former municipal court bailiff Jerry Beach.

Smith, a 1977 graduate of the University of Akron law school, started teaching at Kent State in 1986, retiring in 2014. Smith lives in Rootstown with his wife, Jane, a retired Akron schoolteacher. They have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Jim Moore, who was tapped by a BJ Circulation director manager to deliver the newspaper at Akron General Medical Center, passed away July 26.

It was one of his career hats. He owned Lori-Lee Dry Cleaners.

Jim’s obituary:

James William Moore

WADSWORTH, OHIO James William Moore, 89, passed away on July 26, 2017. Born in Akron, Ohio, he lived in this area all of his life.

He was a U.S. Navy Veteran, served in the South Pacific, and a University of Akron graduate. He was owner of Lori-Lee Dry Cleaners, manager of Coit Cleaners for many years, and a 25 year Akron Beacon Journal newspaperman at Akron General Medical Center, keeping him active in retirement.

He enjoyed history, gardening and anything about the sea. He was a dedicated cat rescuer, loving husband, father, grandfather, greatgrandfather. He was always a soft spoken man of few words but these words were always kind, genuine and worth hearing.

He is reunited with his parents, Luther and Lillian; brother, Robert; sister, Virginia; first wife, Jeanene; and beloved wife, Gretchen. He is survived by his children, Mark (Janet), Mari Lee (Brian), Lori (Bob); grandchildren, Marina (Tommy) Sharp, Paul, and Ami; great-grandchildren, Derek, Stephanie, Kaitlynd, Cameron, Reed and Noah; along with many nieces, nephews and their families.

There will be no calling hours, a private family gathering will take place.

The family requests loving thoughts and donations be made to your favorite animal rescue.

 

Ed Gemind passes away

Ed Gemind, who was in the BJ Circulation Department for 41 years, passed away July 7.

He moved to Clearwater, Florida with his wife, Mary Jean Crossland Gemind, in 1989 but returned to the Akron area in 2013.

Ed Gemind

Ed’s obituary:

Edward J. Gemind

Edward Joseph Gemind, 92 years old, passed peacefully from this life on July 7th. Edward, known to friends as Ed, was born in 1925 to Adam and Helen (Esson) Gemind in Akron, Ohio. He spent his first 67 years living in Akron and Cuyahoga Falls before moving to Clearwater, Florida in 1989 with his wife, Mary Jean. He returned to the Akron area in 2013 to be closer to family and friends.

Ed attended St. Sebastian Grade School and St. Vincent High School. Following graduation in 1943 he enlisted in the Army Air Force where he began his military career in the pilot training program. He left the service in February of 1946 having been honorably discharged and began a long, illustrious career with the hometown newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal. Ed retired 41 years later in 1987 having spent all of his time at the Beacon Journal in the Circulation Department.

Edward was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Jean (Crossland); his youngest son, John; his sisters and brothers-in-law, Helen Therese and Paul McCann, Margaret and Charles Mosher, Dorothy and James Hyland; sister-in-law, Thomasine Hyland and nephew, Mark Hyland. Also, his mother-in-law, Ruth Crossland; and in-laws, Robert and JoAnn Crossland, Eileen and Lee Milne and nephew Lee Milne, Jr.

He is survived by his children and their spouses, Edward and Linda Gemind of Lancaster, Pa., Karen Ann Gemind of Jacksonville, Fla., Phillip Gemind of Cherry Valley, Calif. and Patty and Wayne Weber of Copley, Ohio; grandchildren, Amanda and Jeff McCrary, Melisa and Bill Gibb, Adam and Ashley Weber, and Maggie and David Strickland and Sara and Anna Gemind; eight great-grandchildren; and twenty-two nieces and nephews.

Ed was a devout Roman Catholic and he and his wife were charter members of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Cuyahoga Falls. He also enjoyed playing cards, especially bridge and poker, bingo, golf, coin collecting and most all sports - in particular baseball. His passion in life, beside his family, was rooting for the New York Yankees and taking great enjoyment in the numerous world championships they won during his lifetime.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. Hilary Catholic Church, 2750 W. Market St. A private family interment of ashes will take place at a later date in Holy Cross Cemetery. Friends may call at Hummel Funeral Home COPLEY, 3475 Copley Rd. on Monday, from 4 to 7 p.m. Memorials may be made in Ed's name to St. Vincent St. Mary High School, 15 N. Maple St., Akron, OH 44303.

Published in Akron Beacon Journal from July 9 to July 10, 2017