Bob Downing camps out at family wedding in Park Ridge, Illinois 

Downing folds up his tent for final time

Bob Downing wrote:

 “I have written nearly 765 outdoorsy travel columns over 20 years for the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com , and this is the last one.”

Bob retired from Ol’ Blue Walls in 2016, but continued writing his outdoors column.

He was hired in March 1972 by Pat Englehart as a State Desk part-timer while attending Kent State University. Bob was hired full-time in June 1972 and was assigned to cover Portage County.

He began his college education at Northwestern University, Engelhart’s alma mater, but graduated from Kent State.

Downing’s wife, another Pat, is a teacher/speech therapist. They have three children.

I think Bob’s final outdoors column in the BJ is worth reading. It shows what BJ readers will be missing when another one folds up his tent and leaves.

Click on https://www.ohio.com/akron/lifestyle/bob-downing-looks-back-on-20-years-of-traveling-in-the-wild-and-elsewhere to read Bob’s farewell outdoors column.