-- 30 -- for Don Bandy

By Jim Toms

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE -- Tributes continued during services Saturday for Donald Lee Bandy, 76, retired Beacon Journal reporter and rewrite wizard who died last Sunday in Bradenton, FL. Don was born and grew up in Washington Court House and still has many relatives in the area. Burial was in White Oak Grove Cemetery, outside of town.

In keeping with Don's deep love of The Ohio State University and its athletic teams -- Don received his degree in journalism from OSU and served as editor of the Ohio State Lantern -- he was buried wearing blue jeans, an Ohio State sweatshirt, and a scarlet and gray cap emblazoned with a Block O. His casket was surrounded by Ohio State memorabilia.

Remembrances at the service were given by Jim Palmer, one of Don's nephews; Elaine Palmer Urban, a niece who lives in Hudson; and Bill Hershey, former Beacon Journal Columbus bureau chief who now works for the Dayton Daily News.

Hershey, a close personal friend of Don's, called him "intelligent, quietly sensitive, and intensely loyal." What made him so special, Hershey said, was that he could play any role at the paper. "He was a great reporter and a great listener," he added.

Palmer gave his tribute in the form of a letter written to his Uncle Don. Fighting through tears, he said: "If anyone ever found their calling in life, it was you, Uncle Don, as a news reporter and editor." He recalled a time when Don took him to a Cincinnati Reds game at the old Crosley Field and took him up to the pressbox to meet one of his baseball heroes, Waite Hoyt. He said his Uncle Don "was always doing things like that."

There were approximately 60 people at the service. The Beacon Journal and its alums were represented by Bill and Marcia Hershey, Mike and Suzi Cull, and Jim Toms.

As Elaine Palmer Urban stated in her closing remarks: "We can all rest assured that God has welcomed home a true gentleman" in Donald Lee Bandy.

Jim Toms tribute to Don Bandy

Hi John,

Hope I'm not too late to contribute a small item to the many wonderful tributes that are pouring in to Don.

We first met when I was a rookie reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1968. Don was working at the Cincinnati AP bureau at the time and it turned out that we lived in the same apartment building in Mt. Adams. I think Don and I arrived at the Beacon Journal at about the same time in the spring of 1969. Over the years our summer vacations sometimes overlapped at a little motel in Nags Head, NC, the Outer Banks Motor Lodge. Don and Judy loved the beach. Like many others, Don bailed me out on deadline many days as I attempted to decipher Mayor John Ballard quotes I had collected from City Hall. Don was a true professional and a great friend to all.

Jim Toms

John, hope you are well. I'm planning to attend the service Saturday in Washington C.H. Maybe I'll see you there. Thanks for all you and Harry do to keep the blog rolling.

Jim

Gloria Irwin tribute to Don Bandy

So many people have written about Don's incredible skills as a rewrite man, so I thought I'd share some different stories.

On one of my first nights with the rewrite desk, I sent Don to cover the shooting of a repo man in the Canal Fulton area. As time ticked by, I wondered why Don wasn't calling in to give us an update. Every time I answered the phone, I got a mechanical voice telling me "this is an ad attack," and I hurriedly hung up, waiting for Don's call.

I think it was Jim Dettling who finally got the call from Don, who quickly dictated the story to him. When Don returned to the office, I asked him why he hadn't called earlier. "I did, but you kept hanging up on me," he said with some exasperation.
Seems what I was mishearing as "an attack ad" was really "this is AT&T … " with a collect call.

I also recall how much trouble Cristal Williams had in finding an appropriate retirement gift for Don. "He's not a '90s kind of guy," she concluded, ruling out whatever electronic gadgets were trendy at the time. I don't remember what she finally settled on.

He may not have been a '90s kind of guy, but Don was a trusty and dependable journalist and human being for all times.

Gloria Irwin
(still not retired)

Tribute to Bandy from niece Vikki

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of those who posted their memories of my Uncle Don. Even though those of us who are related to him recognized how special he was, it's nice to read what others thought of him. It was such a touching tribute to a one-of-a-kind man.

All of us nieces and nephews have our own special memories of Don. He was, in my opinion, one of the most selfless men I have ever known. After he moved to Florida he would often travel to Naples to entertain his brother (my Dad) and he was there when my Dad passed in August, 2010. Even then his own health could not have been that good but he had such love and respect for family that he would always do whatever he could for anyone.

I remember as a child being in awe of him. He seemed so wise and traveled to so many places and he would always take the time to talk to us about the things he'd seen and done. When I was reading all of the thoughts posted in tribute to him I felt a great deal of pride for him and his accomplishments and, I got to know him a little better.

Thank you again for sharing the Don you all knew with us. You have confirmed what we already knew. He was a great man.

Sincerely,

Vikki Bandy

Wilmington, Delaware

Bandy tribute from Olga Reswow

I am so sorry to hear about Don. He was the best rewrite person I ever knew ... and he knew EVERYTHING about the area. He was an encyclopedia of information and was an oldtime newsman that I greatly admired. Don was a craftsman with words. He was also one of the kindest people that I ever met at the Beacon.
~Olga Reswow

Services for Don Bandy

Calling hours for Beacon Journal newsroom retiree Don Bandy, 76, will be 11 a.m. Saturday, March 26, till the services at 1 p.m. Both will be in the Kirkpatrick Funeral Home, 554 Washington Avenue, in Don's native Washington Courthouse, Ohio.

Burial will follow in White Oak Grove Cemetery, Buena Vista, Fayette County. There will be a reception after the burial, at the Washington Country Club, 703 State Route 41, Washington Courthouse, Ohio.

Don died Sunday in Bradenton, Florida, where he moved in 2006 from his Aqueduct Avenue home in Akron. He was the No. 1 rewrite man at the BJ, where he was a reporter from May 19, 1969 till June 11, 1997.

Click on the headline for the BJ's story on Don's passing. Scroll down this blog to read the many tributes to Don by his former co-workers.


The announcement from Kirkpatrick Funeral Home:

Donald Lee Bandy, 76, of Bradenton, Florida died Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 5:45 p.m. at the Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, FL where he had been a patient since Wednesday.

Don was born December 21, 1934 in Fayette County, Ohio to Edgar E. and Lena I. Clements Bandy. He was a 1952 graduate of Washington High School; served with the United States Army during the Korean Conflict and received a bachelor's degree in journalism from The Ohio State University in 1961. While at Ohio State he was editor of the Ohio State Lantern and it was voted the Best College Newspaper in Ohio during his tenure as editor. He moved to Florida in 2006.

He was a retired newspaperman. He began his career at his hometown newspaper, The Record-Herald, in Washington Court House. He worked five years for the Associated Press. During his time with the AP in Columbus, Don was the reporter Gov. James A. Rhodes always requested to accompany him on public appearances and newsworthy situations. While with the Cincinnati bureau, he interviewed the Beatles on their first U.S. tour. He also worked three years at the Indianapolis Star, during which time he interviewed President John F. Kennedy. He joined the Akron Beacon Journal on May 19, 1959 and initially worked on the copy desk. He also was a reporter at the Beacon Journal and a rewrite editor. Don covered a variety of stories for the Beacon Journal including the aftermath of the fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, KY that left 165 people dead and the student loan crisis when the Computer Training Institute went defunct, both stories which earned him honors from the Associated Press.

Don was preceded in death by his wife, the former Judith Reagan in 2001; his parents; four brothers, Harry, Edgar, Kenneth and Victor Bandy and three sisters, Eva Palmer, Nellie Burton and Alice Sheley.

He is survived by a brother, Calvin C. Bandy and his wife, Mary, of Athens, GA; two sisters, Virginia Gibeaut of Worthington, OH and Ruth Jobe of Dayton, OH; a brother-in-law, Norman Reagan of Indian Rocks Beach, FL; sisters-in-law, Jane Reagan of Lafayette, IN, Ann Bandy of Fort Myers, FL and Lois Bandy of New Holland, OH and many nieces and nephews whom loved him dearly. The funeral will be Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 1 p.m. at the Kirkpatrick Funeral Home in Washington Court House with the Rev. Ronald R. Dodds, pastor at the Grace United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will follow in the White Oak Grove Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral home Saturday from 11 a.m. until the time of the service.

Memories of Bandy from Dave Hess

In the nine years I was the BJ's Washington correspondent and filing quite often for the early afternoon editions, I frequently dictated stories from phone booths or the press galleries on Capitol Hill. Don was my savior. As a rewrite man, he was peerless. Without a single interruption of my rambling trains of thought, he swiftly typed coherent renditions of the stories, never pausing to ask for spellings of names or places (he already knew them) or punctuations (he got those right, too). It got to the point that, even if I had the time to sit down and write the reports, I preferred to pick up the phone and start talking to Don. I knew he would get it fast and right. His only gripe was for me to speak in shorter sentences. "Hey, Dave," he'd say, "fewer dependent clauses." He was a professional to the bone.
~Dave Hess

Trbute to Don Bandy from a niece

I want all of you to know that your stories about Uncle Don have warmed my heart and made me smile. He was a kind and gentle soul, the consummate gentleman and professional, and the most loving uncle to twenty –some nieces and nephews,. He was generous, patient, a little shy, and he was a good listener. You didn’t have to tell him you needed something; he could just perceive it and fill the need almost anonymously. When I was heading off to college, I was doing so on a shoestring. Uncle Don took me to Lazarus to shop for whatever I wanted or needed for school. That was a gift that was most meaningful....not just the items he bought me, but also the time he spent with me, giving up a whole day to browse and chat and make me feel special.

One of you wrote that Don will never get the obituary that he would write. I have a few things to add that didn’t make it into the Beacon’s obituary this morning, and I offer them in light of Don’s modesty, knowing that you probably don’t know these things about him either, but that I feel are important achievements in his life. If you do already know them, please forgive me. At Ohio State during Don’s tenure as editor of The Lantern, it was voted the best college newspaper in the state of Ohio. During his time at the Indianapolis Star, he had a personal interview with President John F. Kennedy. In Cincinnati with the AP, he interviewed the Beatles on their first tour of the U.S. In Columbus with the AP, Don was the reporter who flew off in a helicopter or rode in a limousine with Governor James A. Rhodes at the governor’s request. He really liked and trusted Don.

The last time I saw Don was in October of 2006. He had come to Akron for our daughter’s wedding. He had the time of his life at that reception! He danced and danced and smiled and laughed the entire evening. That is how I want to always remember him, just full of joy and sheer delight.

As I read all of the lovely tributes your site has printed, I cried. Don would be so touched to read how you all feel, and somehow, I think all the warmth has reached him in Heaven.

Thank you all for your tributes to a wonderful man. You have made many, many people happy to know that you all cared so much for Don.

Ever so sincerely,
Elaine Palmer Urban
Hudson, Ohio

Obituary of Don Bandy in Beacon Journal

Don Bandy rated a four-column head with deck on page B3 of the Akron Beacon Journal on Tuesday:


Obituary
Retired journalist Donald Bandy dies at 76

Former reporter joins
Akron Beacon Journal
in 1969, leaves in 1997

Beacon Journal staff report

Retired Beacon Journal ''rewrite expert'' Donald Lee Bandy has died.

Mr. Bandy, 76, who moved to Bradenton, Fla. in 2006 after his retirement in 1997, died Sunday at the Blake Medical Center in Bradenton. He had been a patient at the hospital since Wednesday.

Born Dec. 21, 1934, in Washington Court House in Ohio's Fayette County, Mr. Bandy was a 1952 graduate of Washington High School.

He served two years in the Army during the Korean Conflict. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio State University in 1961.

Before joining the Akron Beacon Journal, Mr. Bandy worked five years in the Associated Press' Cincinnati and Columbus bureaus. He also worked for three years at the Indianapolis Star and two years at his hometown newspaper in Washington Court House.

Mr. Bandy joined the Akron Beacon Journal on May 19, 1969, and initially worked on the copy desk. He also was a reporter at the Beacon Journal and a rewrite editor.

He earned honors from the Associated Press for his work, including an article in the 1970s about students left with hefty loans when the Computer Tabulating Institute went defunct.

Mr. Bandy covered a variety of stories over the years for the Beacon Journal. He had the grim task of traveling to Southgate, Ky., to cover the aftermath of a fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club that left 165 people dead and more than 200 injured.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Judy, in 2001; his parents; four brothers and three sisters.

He is survived by a brother, Calvin, of Athens, Ga.; and two sisters, Virginia Gibeaut of Worthington and Ruth Jobe of Dayton. Funeral arrangements are pending at Kirkpatrick Funeral Home in Washington Court House.

[Click on the headline to read the obit on Ohio.com]

Kathy Fraze remembering Don Bandy

t was a damp, chilly Saturday night in March 1975. I was squeezed into a phone booth in downtown Columbus. Deadline was minutes away, and I was melting down.

A Canton man had just won Ohio's second millionaire lottery drawing . I had been sent to Columbus to cover the event and I had enough notes and quotes to write a novel. Problem was, I'd never dictated a story on deadline before, and I didn't have a clue how to start.

Don Bandy did. He caught my panicked phone call to the rewrite desk as the clock ticked down to deadline and he calmly led me through the who, what, where and why, wheedled some pertinent quotes out of my jumbled notes and calmly shaped my mess of information into a Sunday A1 story.

I got the byline, but it was all Bandy's work.

He was always my rewrite hero.

Kathy Fraze

(Not a retiree yet. Still copy desk chief at the BJ.)

Bowling with Bandy --Tom Moore

Russ Musarra on Don Bandy

Reading what others have to say brings back a flood of memories about the best of times and reminds me how lucky I was to have landed at the Beacon Journal when I did. Don will be remembered as long any of his colleagues are around. Thankfully, the younger among them will be for quite a while.

Russ Musarra

Bill O'Connor's memories of Bandy

I joined the Beacon in the spring of '79. A day or so later, I was sent on a story about some complex union negotiations. I forget the details. We were a p.m. paper then, and the morning meeting dragged on. I had time only to call Don and give him a jumble of notes, in no order. Don had about 20 minutes to make something out of that messy pile. I went out on another story, and when I got back, the paper was up. I was astounded with how Don had made that story flow, with detail and narrative. I knew then that I had landed at a fine newspaper.

And the man himself! I, too, went to a few poker parties. I remember one where Jim Ricci had just given up smoking. I asked him how it was going. "You know," Ricci said, "since I gave up smoking, all the meaning has gone out of my life." Bandy gave that sly smile of his.

Cardinal Newman, I think it was, gave this definition of a gentleman. "A gentleman is one who never knowingly causes pain." I have never known anyone who fits that definition better than Don Bandy.

Rest in peace, Don.

Bill O'Connor

Larry Froelich's memories of Don Bandy

I hope I don't f--- this up because I don't have Don to clean up behind me. He and Gaynor did all my cop-rewrite stuff in the early days, and they were both tremendously gifted at their craft. Two memories stand out among the many. When we were all stuffed back in that room behind Editorial that I guess is now dedicated to JSK, Don got a call from a distressed reader about some kind of hospital-emergency care foul-up. Now he was strictly rewrite at this stage but instead of handing it off to a general assignment reporter, he spent a couple days on the phone to various agencies and folks before turning in what eventually became a series of stories under his byline that uncovered a serious flaw in the emergency services in Akron (I really can't recall details). Don also threw one of those famous all-night poker parties on the eve of my departure for the Detroit Free Press. A mile-long sub and all the beer we could drink. My oldest son Mark has never forgotten that party because the playas were generous with the tips he'd get for fetching their sandwiches and drinks ... and I went home with about a hundred bucks more than I started the evening with. Don was a great, great newspaperman - one of those unsung heroes of the newsroom who could take a jumble of facts and quotes grabbed on the run and turn it into a smooth, readable story. I last saw Don at the Columbus reunion several years ago and he was the same easy-going, soft-spoken guy I known so long ago. We'll miss ya, Don.

Larry Froelich (ABJ '67-'81)

(Still enjoying retirement in Lexington, KY., auditing classes at UK, doing pro bono editing for an online newspaper in metro Detroit, traveling abroad and visiting my scattered brood.)

Bandy memories culled from facebook

Don and Judy Bandy were two of the finest people I ever had the good fortune to meet and work and play with.
~John Dunphy

Don was an incredibly good guy. Always kind. I have long missed him at the paper.
–Don Roese

I remember some of bandy's fun parties. he was a fun guy and so slyly funny. Char and I talked about getting over to sarasota to visit him. always too late. so sorry it is.
~Art Krummel

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.
~Sharon Lorentzen

"He teased me about my cutlines and then taught me to make them better. Godspeed, Bandy."
~Robin Sallie

Cool as a cuke with inexperienced reporters calling in a story;.
~Kathy Spitz Lipkin


Don wasn't just a good journalist, he was a really great guy.
~Paula Schleis

RIP, Don.
~Bob Springer

Don Bandy was a wonderful man and a tremendous old school rewrite man. He quickly made sense of anything that came his way and explained it simply and to the point. When I got the paper, he helped me very much. RIP Don.

One more thing. I can still hear him as he answered the phone. Beacon Journal. Bandy. The other thing is that the combination of Don Bandy and Jim Dettling on day rewrite and then night rewrite was something to behold. Bandy and Dettling are now together on a bigger rewrite desk somewhere out there.
~Jim Carney

I truly enjoyed working with Don. As Jim said, he was a tremendous rewrite man. I have many fond memories of the times we worked together and am saddened to hear of his passing.
~Gloria Irwin

I remember his face, when did he leave the paper?
~Kathy Hagedorn Kortvejesi

[Don began at the BJ May 19, 1969 and retired June 11, 1997.]

That is a beautiful tribute to a wonderful friendship. Don was one of a kind. It's still hard to picture the newsroom without him sitting there with the phone to one ear, typing away. Thanksn for sharing."
~Beth Thomas Hertz

What a pleasure it was to know Don Bandy, truly a great man.
~Bob Rosen

I can still see him sitting at the night metro desk saving us one more time. Always calm, alway thorough, always well written.
~Doug Oplinger

Sad news.
~Mary Beth Nord Breckenridge

Very sad news about a wonderful man.
~Dave Scott

Agree with Dave. Don was my Aqueduct Street neighbor too.
~Jim Kavanagh

Thanks for letting us all know.
~Debby Stock Kiefer

Don was a class act in every way. I'm glad I had the opportunity to work with him.
~Webb Shaw

Dick McBane's memories of Don Bandy

Don was always a pleasure to be around; totally dependable as a reporter and rewrite man; great to deal with when phoning in a story. When you talked to Don you always knew the story would turn out okay.

At the end of our BJ careers, Don and I worked together, retired on the same day, and had a joint party. What I remember most from that was Gloria Irwin saying, "I've lost my entire staff!" And, incidentally, Gloria was another of the really good editors from the BJ's glory days.

-- Dick McBane

Retired and now living in Lilburn, Georgia. Lilburn is an Atlanta suburb on the northeast side, outside the I-285 beltway. Married to Marilynn, as I was during my BJ career, and we are about a quarter of a mile from our oldest son, Lachlan, and his family -- three grandsons and a granddaughter.

Our younger son, Roderick, went to the University of Houston, discovered he could play softball year-round, and still lives in a Houston suburb with a wife and one son. Lachlan is a violist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Roderick is a math professor at Houston Community College.

I will turn 76 in August, and Marilynn and I will mark our 49th anniversary in October.

-- Dick McBane


Dick and Don retired from the BJ June 11, 1997. Don wrote an article that day about Dick's retirement. Typical of Don, he didn't mention that he also was retiring that day. It was Don's last story for the BJ.

Memories of Bandy from Charlene Nevada

When word of Don's health was first posted on this site about a month ago, I did send him a note to thank him for teaching me so much. When I broke my leg on the BJ parking deck in 1977, there wasn't much I could do but rewrite since I could not drive.

Those months as the back-up rewrite person were so valuable to me. I got to watch a pro crunch facts and turn them into an easy-to-read news story. He was unflappable and quick as well.

Because of Don, I also got to cover a murder a month before our daughter was born. It was almost lunchtime. The only people left in the office were Don, an intern and me. A call came in that someone had been murdered at a west akron church and the killer might still be in the church.

Well, a good editor does NOT send out his ace rewrite guy on deadline. This was 1978 and I think the cops were so worried I would have the baby in the church parking lot that they just left me alone. I got the name of the victim (the church secretary) and all sorts of stuff -- and Don turned it into a great deadline story.

Bill Hershey's memories of Don Bandy

Harry called me Sunday night so we got the news. It was very sad.

Here are some of my memories of Don:

Don was the best rewrite man ever but more importantly a neighbor and friend to me, my wife Marcia, our kids Laura and Patrick and various dogs that Don also got to know.

When I first got to the Beacon Journal in 1970, he helped me figure things out.

I got to help him with one of Pat Englehart's sagas on Gene Chicoine and drug-dealing in Mogadore and the rest of Summit County. One of my favorite reporting experiences, still.

Before he became a great rewrite man, Don also was a great reporter, conscientious, thorough and always accurate.

Don and his wife Judy lived near us in the Highland Square neighborhood and Don was a frequent visitor at our house. He was always ready to help.

He and I put our daughter Laura's first bike together and couldn't figure out why there were some parts left over. She rode the bike anyway.

When our son Patrick stuck a tomato stake through his nose and had to go to the hospital emergency room, Don happened to be walking his dog Drumbeat by our house and volunteered as babysitter for Laura.

When we came to Akron from Columbus to take our Ethiopian refugee friend Aderajew to visit the church that had sponsored him, all of us stayed at the Bandys, of course.

The greatest testament to Don's nice-guy credentials came from my mother Josephine Hershey, a teetotaling Methodist. My mom fought a 60-year stalemate with my beer-drinking dad and never served alcohol to anybody, ever.

Don was the exception. He came up to my parents' lake cottage in Michigan for a weekend and Marcia and I were stunned to see my mother carrying a can of beer down to him on the dock.

-- Bill

Tom Moore's memories of Don Bandy

Don was a premiere reporter and rewrite man . . . another guy who helped
make the Beacon into the great paper it used to be.

Don and I, the late copy editor Don Hawk along with Mickey Porter
bowled in the old Printcraft Bowling league. We never made it to the
Bowling Hall of Fame but we had a barrel of fun, sharing stories and many,
many beers.

We went to Detroit one year to the National Printcraft bowling tourney.
And that was a highlight of more beer, a lobster supper and poker. Don
was a good poker player and showed up for the many games we used to have
on a monthly basis.

But back to the tourney. Don was on fire and rolled the best game
ever . . . a 286! Don't know why that fact stuck in my mind all these years.

Hey, our ranks are thinning fast. And each passing brings back a
memory or two of those "good old days."

--tom moore

Please send us your Bandy memories, tributes

Don Bandy will never get the kind of obituary he would have written.

Instead, we are asking you to send us your memories or tribute to post on the BJ Alums blog

Send them to John Olesky jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net or Harry Liggett hliggett@sbcgobal.net

Please include your name, what you are doing now, when you left the Beacon and city where you live plus your best, permanent email address.