PD cartoonist Dick Dugan dies

DUGAN JAMES RICHARD "DICK" DUGAN, 85, passed away Saturday, April 16, 2011 at Hospice of the Western Reserve surrounded by his family.

For 39 years his cartoons, especially Chief Wahoo and Cleveland Brownie, were a fixture on the editorial and sports pages. If a colleague left the paper, he would draw a caricature that friends would sign as a going away present.

For the death notice go to http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?n=james-richard-dugan-dick&pid=150393656

Tom and Dot Moore celebrate 60th

Dot and Tom Moore celebrated their 60 anniversary Thursday.

"Son-in-law John sprung even though he's still in Minnesota," Tom wrote. "but we had lobster and crab and the kids got a Crest Bakery cake for us. The girls, Carol, Kathy and Amy are in the picture with us."

Great article on Webb Shaw's father

Rob Oller wrote a teriffic column Thursday in the Columbus Dispatch on Bob Shaw, father of BJ Alum Webb Shaw. Bob Shaw, who died last week, was an all-American end on Ohio State’s 1942 championship team.

Read the story

BJ lunch becomes Civil War roundtable

From left are Al Hunsicker, Gene McClellan, Dick Gresock, Cal Deshong and Carl Nelson.

By Tom Moore
Attend a Beacon Journal retiree luncheon and you never know what comes up in conversation.

And regardless of how many or how few, something interesting from the present and the past is bound to show up. Take the Civil War; Somebody wanted to know what the big deal was--bringing up the war again. He was told that this was the 150 anniversary and that led to a story or two about ancestors.

And Dick Gresock had a good one about a retired and now deceased Beacon Journal printer, Joseph Parrot. Seems his two great-grandfathers were among the first recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The two were members of the special unit that went behind the rebel lines, seized a train and started burning bridges to cripple the Confederate supply line. (there was a movie based on their exploit starring Fess Parker). They were captured and sent to Andersonville prison.

A couple of the unit were executed and when President Lincoln heard about it, he informed the Southerners that if they killed any more, he'd execute 10 Confederate generals. When they were finally freed, Lincoln had them come to the White House where he presented them with the newly authorized Medal of Honor.

After the war, one of the men had a daughter, another a son. They got together and that was the grandparents of Joseph. When the anniversary of the Medal came around, President Kennedy had Joseph come to the White House with the two medals.Joseph, a printer, retired in 1978 at 72. He lived in West Salem.

This story led Cal Deshong to say that his great grandfather was buried in an Anderson Cemetery.

Next luncheon is Wednesday, May 11 at about 1p.m. at Papa Joe's in the Valley. Not only are retirees welcome, but their kin and those still working at the paper.

BJ to lease space in building

The Beacon Journal plans to consolidate all its departments on the third floor and lease all space on the other floors: first and second floors and mezzanine

See the story in today's newspaper.

Note from Carrie (Moore) Krack:

Hi Everyone!!!

Thanks so much for the cards (that are still coming) all the prayers and that you sent my family, John and especially me!!! I know that is the reason I'm here. That and I think God has something for me to do.

I really enjoyed all the good wishes you sent my way. One of the first things I can remember is John reading them to me until I could read them myself. What an uplifter!!!

I am now out of inpatient rehab and in out patient rehab Three times a week and getting stronger. I don't know how much longer I will be here. It depends on when I am released from rehab and the doctor. We are hoping around the end of April or middle of May or until my parents kick me out!

Again, many, many Thanks.

God Watch.

Lots of love and hugs,

Carrie ( Carol)

Andy Rooney at 92 is definitely not a retiree

[Albany Times Union photo by Cindy Schulz]

If you've noticed that you're not seeing Andy Rooney as often on "60 Minutes" or that his syndicated column is no longer published every Saturday in the Times Union, there's a good reason: He's 92 years old and even a curmudgeon starts to slow down at that age.

But don't expect the famously opinionated wordsmith and one of the oldest working journalists to be put out to pasture without a fight.

Read more of the story by Paul Grodahl of the Albany (NY) Times-Union, Andy's hometown newspaper.

The Rev.Fr. Kevin Elbert, parochial vicar of St. Mary parish in Hudson,who was just ordained last June, will speak at the Akron Serra Club noon luncheon on Tuesday at the Martin Center on the University of Akron campus.

Newsroom employment up slightly

The percentage of minorities in newsrooms totaled 12.79 percent, a decline of .47 percentage points from a year ago, according to the American Society of News Editors, which has conducted a census of professional full-time journalists since 1978.

This is the third consecutive year that the percentage of African-American, Asian, Latino, and Native American journalists has declined in U.S. newsrooms.

The number of professional journalists rose from an estimated 41,500 in 2009 to 41,600 in 2010, according to ASNE’s most recently completed census of online and traditional newspapers. American daily newspapers lost 13,500 newsroom jobs from 2007 to 2010.

In the most recent ASNE census, minority journalists declined from 5,500 to 5,300.

“At a time when the U.S. Census shows that minorities are 46 percent of the U.S. population, newsrooms are going in the opposite direction. This is an accuracy and credibility issue for our newsrooms,” said Milton Coleman, ASNE president.

“The slight decline in minority newsroom representation may be small, but is part of a disturbing trend that we need to reverse,” said Ronnie Agnew, co-chair of ASNE’s Diversity Committee.

Click on the headline to see the ASNE report

Ron Taiclet, familiar to BJ folks, dies

Ron Taiclet, a jokes-loving guy who crossed paths often with Beacon Journal employees as a Kent State Journalism graduate whose career included Tallmadge Circle founder (acquired in 1975 by Tallmadge Express); RonTac Publications, typesetting company; KSU journalism instructor; and Chapel Hill Marketing director. As the voice of "Archie," Chapel Hill's huge snowman entertaining children, he would tease friends who passed by.

His obituary in the BJ:


TALLMADGE -- Tuesday, April 5, 2011, St. Peter was introduced to a hoard of old jokes. Ron N. Taiclet was born on June 30, 1936 to Richard Nelson and Marjorie Belle. He grew up in Brookfield, Ohio and had lived in Tallmadge the past 47 years. A graduate of Kent State University in journalism and a seven year member of Army ROTC, he also served in the U.S. Army. Ron founded and operated the Tallmadge Circle Newspaper, which was acquired by the Tallmadge Express in 1975. He operated RonTac Publications, the largest type setting company in the Akron area for 13 years. He served as the first executive director of the Tallmadge Chamber of Commerce for one year, along with teaching journalism at KSU. After selling RonTac in 1987 he worked as marketing director for Chapel Hill Mall for 13 years, where he retired in 2001. Ron was three term president of North Akron Chamber of Commerce, was currently serving on the board of National Super Kids and on the board of directors at Tallmadge Lutheran Church, where he recently celebrated 50 years of membership.

Ron is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Dorothy (Wilch); sons, Jeff (Tina) and Eric; grandchildren, Elaina, Paul, and Jackson; brother, Rick (Robyn); sisters, Jean (Glenn) Baird and June.

Ron gave the gift of sight through eye donation.

Funeral service will be 11 a.m. Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Tallmadge Lutheran Church, with Rev. David Zachrich officiating. Interment will be at Tallmadge Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 until 8 p.m. Friday at the DONOVAN BAGNOLI FUNERAL HOME, 339 SOUTHWEST AVE., TALLMADGE. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Tallmadge Lutheran Church, 759 East Ave., Tallmadge 44278 or the National Super Kids, P.O. Box 7372, Akron 44306


For more details about Ron Taiclet, click on the headline to read the Tallmadge Express story for Ron and Dorothy Wilch Taiclet's 50th wedding anniversary Feb. 25, 2011.

Contact Terence Oliver at UNC-Chapel Hill

After teaching at Ohio University for nine years, former BJ stafter Terence Oliver started teaching last year at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

His email address is terence.oliver@unc.edu.

Ott Gangl has new email address

Hi,

I changed my email address to my domain carrier because I may abandon
Roadrunner in the future, but both my existing email address and my new one
will be active for now, thanks.

New email address is:


shooter1@corrr1.com



....Ott

Caroline Moore has first outing with family

From left are Jane Williams, Kathy Moore, Amy Moore, Caroline Moore Krack, Amanda, Dot Moore and Mike Williams

Sunday was a special day for the family of BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore. Daughter Caroline Moore Krack, who has gone through coma and rehab since being hospitalized in January with meningitis, had her first outing – breakfast at Eat’n Park restaurant.

Joining Carrie, as husband John Krack calls her, were Tom and wife Dot, their children Kathy and Amy, their granddaughter Amanda and Mike Williams, still at the BJ, and Mike’s wife, Jane.

Carrie, Kathy and Amy were weekend copykids at the BJ.

In addition to his other BJ duties, Mike has been trying for a year to round up copies of every Tower Topics and Sidebar employee newsletters printed over the years.

Carrie/Caroline, who lives in Minnesota, moved into Tom and Dot’s house from Edwin Shaw Hospital rehab March 26.

Click on the headline for previous stories on Caroline/Carrie’s illness and recovery.

Proctor to retire as Times-Dispatch editor

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ` The Richmond Times-Dispatch's executive editor plans to retire.

The newspaper announced Friday that Glenn Proctor will retire June 1. He started as the newspaper's executive editor and vice president for news in November 2005. Before joining the Times-Dispatch, Proctor worked at several editing positions at The (Newark) Star-Ledger.

The 64-year-old Proctor also was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Akron Beacon Journal for its coverage of the takeover of tire maker Goodyear. He also has worked for United Press International, the Louisville Courier-Journal and other newspapers.

Under Proctor, the Times-Dispatch won the 2008 National Headliner Award for Breaking News for its coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre as well as Virginia's top journalism award for public service and freedom of information.

Hold the iPhone: Typewriters making comeback

Still have that manual typewriter in the closet? It might be worth more than you think.

The New York Times reports that the machines are all the rage among members of the digital generation who have discovered their tangible pleasures and are swapping them, showing them off to friends, and gathering at events called “type-ins.”

Click on the headline for the article.

NY Times for a nickel--but not for long

It might not have taken long for people to figure out ways around the new paywall “feature” of The New York Times website, but it’s apparently taking even less time for the Times to find them and shut them down.

In a story passed to us today, we hear about a site called NYT for a Nickel. The site would allow you to enter the URL for a blocked article, then pay $.05 to have access to read it. Only 1 hour and 8 minutes after launching, the site had acquired $33.85 in “orders” plus another order from The Times — Shut it down.

Being the good Internet citizen that he is, NYT for a Nickel founder Calvin Young went along with the order and took the site offline, then sent a check for $33.85 to The Times.

Jim Toms' new email address

My email address is incorrect on the BJ blog contact list. When you have a chance will you please change it for me to:


jandktoms@gmail.com


Jim

Mike Cull tribute to Bandy

Don Bandy was the best: I was one of the dozens of green Beacon wretches, caught in a phone booth and on deadline, whom Bandy rescued, probably more than once.

"The Banderoo," as I used to call him, was knowledgeable, calm, steady, reliable. He never went for the cheap laugh, the verbal cut block. When he was around, YOU were the star. He quietly loved his craft, his newspaper and his friends.

Wherever he was, was a good place to be. With Bandy, you had at least one friend nearby.

We will miss him terribly.

Michael Cull (BJ 1972-1983)

Tom Moore's daughter comes home

Daughter Caroline came home today from Edwin Shaw. She'll stay with us for about a month while she takes out-patient rehab. And she thanks all for the prayers and wishes that pulled her thru a most trying time.

Tom

Newsroom retiree Tom Moore's daughter, Carolina "Carrie" Moore Krack, had been in a coma for months after she was hospitalized in January with meningitis. Husband John has been by her side all that time and emailed updates to BJ Alums blog.

Click on the headline to see earlier stories on Carrie's situation.

-- 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.

Those were the days I can't remember

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.

Newsroom retiree Don Bandy, 76, dies

Donald Lee Bandy, 76, of Bradenton, Florida, died Sunday, March 20, at the Blake Medical Center in Bradenton.

He was born Dec. 21, 1934, a son of the late Edgar and Lena Clements Bandy.

He is survived by sisters Virginia Bandy Gibeaut of Worthington, Ohio, and Ruth Bandy Jobe of Dayton, Ohio, brother Calvin (Mary) Bandy of Athens, Georgia, brother-in-law Norman Reagan of Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, sisters-in-law Jane Reagan of Lafayette, Indiana, and Lois Bandy of New Holland, Ohio, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Judith Bandy, sisters Eva Bandy Palmer and Olive Bandy Sheley and Nellie Bandy Burton and brothers Edgar, Harry, Kenny and Victor.

Don is an Ohio State graduate who was a long-time reporter for the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal before he retired and moved to Florida. He began at the BJ May 19, 1969 and retired June 11, 1997.

Funeral services will be in Don’s native Washington Court House, Ohio, where Kirkpatrick Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Additional details will be announced later.


Don was the No. 1 rewrite guy in the Beacon Journal newsroom for decades.

Don's niece, Ruth Burton, of Sarasota, Florida, called with the news.

Don was taken to Blake hospital last November for dehydration. He returned to his Bradenton condo and about two weeks later fell and broke his hip. He underwent rehabilitation at Heritage Center in Bradenton. Later, Don was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Don was an expert at taking reporters' phone calls and whipping the information into clear, concise stories on deadline.

Don often showed up for reunions with BJ retirees who visited Florida. He came to Ohio to meet up with friends, too. In 2004 he was at the monthly BJ Alums lunch at Papa Joe's Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road. In 2005 he reunited in Columbus with former BJ reporters Bill Hershey, Jim Ricci, Michael Cull, John and Georgia McDonald, Mike Clary, Larry Froelich and former BJ Business Desk chief Jim Toms.

Don's brother, Victor, died in Naples last September. There were 11 children in the Bandy family.

Added to email address list

Added to our email address list today:

Melanie Payne dileamel@gmail.com

An email from her states that she worked at the BJ 1996-2000 and is now a columnist of the News-Press in Fort Myers, FL.

Current work e-mail: mpayne@news-press.com
Phone: 239-335-0387

Larry Pantages' father dies

Frank William Pantages, almost 87, father of BJ's Larry Pantages, died.

Larry wrote a magnificent paean to his Pop in the obituary published in the Beacon Journal.

Frank was born in Fayette County in western Pennsylvania, where Uniontown is the best-known city, with Greek Orthodox Church records to prove it.

He is survived by Evelyn Ruth Gretta, his Slovak bride of 57-plus years. Frank was a 1942 East High graduate, a World War II veteran of the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge, the effusive bartender at Leo's Cafe in East Akron and 50-year St. John Lutheran Church usher.

Larry ends his tribute to Pop this way:

"So everybody, mark Billy Pantages' life and death today by lifting a glass, lighting a candle, planting a tree, dancing a polka. Or kee"

A niece, Penny Dirrig Cummings of Kent, in signing the funeral home guest book, gave another glorious glimpse:

"Another significant role in Bill Pantages' life was that of our uncle. He didn't touch our lives through his letters as our Uncle Gus did after his death as a hero in WWII before most of us were born.

"He didn't throw us in the air and catch us as did our Uncle Jim or make us laugh with his antics.

"But Uncle Bill was there for every important event in our lives, he treated us with respect and remembered our accomplishments, he was always available to talk, and he gave us an example of marital love in his devotion to Aunt Evelyn these 57 years, especially since her stroke, that transcends the bounds of human understanding.

"We treasure our memories of Uncle Bill as a human being who confronted the realities of life with dignity, grace, and a resilience that will help as we face our years ahead without him."

Click on the headline to read Larry's paean to Pop.

The newsroom rush of old

The New York Journal American newsroom typified its time: crowded, messy and organized—like the floor of a factory—to get the news out as quickly as possible in five afternoon editions a day.

Those were the days. Michael Shapiro in the March 2011 issue of Smithsonian magazine paints a picture of newspapers of bygone days. Even then–speed was important. We are posting a big part of the story, but you wil want to click on the headline to read it all.

By Michael Shapiro
No image brings a tear to the eye of even the crustiest ink-on-paper romantic like a yellowing photograph of the city room of a deceased newspaper. The men in this photograph, circa 1950, are putting out the New York Journal-American, which was born in 1937. The Journal-American was once the city’s most widely read afternoon newspaper—yes, afternoon paper, a once-grand tradition of American journalism that has gone the way of the Linotype machine, the gluepot and the spike onto which editors would stick stories they deemed unworthy of publication.

Its newsroom was typical of the time. The furnishings look as if they had been plucked from a garage sale—scarred wooden desks, manual typewriters perched on rolling stands, hard-backed chairs. The congestion borders on the claustrophobic; note the proximity of one man’s cigarette to another man’s ear. Everyone sits within shouting distance, which was imperative, considering the ambient din—ringing phones, typewriter keys, calls for the copy boys. This was a factory floor. The man who manned the telephones—there were few women on the staff—began his shift by wiping blown-in soot off the desks.

“It wasn’t a place for comfort,” said Richard Piperno in an interview before he died in January at age 88. He started there as a copy boy in 1940 and stayed 26 years. “It was a place for work.”

The photograph captures the city desk, the heart of the newsroom, with its editors facing off at the center and the copy editors arrayed around their horseshoe of a communal desk—the “rim”—to the right. It is not surprising that they are leaning forward, in various states of enterprise. The Journal-American put out five editions a day, plus extras for big stories, from its home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In a city with seven daily newspapers, speed was a matter of survival.

[Thanks to Charlie Buffum for calling this to our attention]

Akronist finds its own patch

It looks like the Patch locally-produced community websites will have competition in Akron -- Akronist, as in Akron Citizen Journalist.

As with the Patch web sites, Akronist -- headed by Chris Miller -- produces local stories, including seedlings at Crown Point, Oriana House residents discussing parenting and custody issues with a magistrate and a Women’s Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation grant. Akronist and Patch fill a void left when daily newspapers like the Beacon Journal decimated their staffs and no longer can cover every hamlet in their circulation areas with a reporter.

It's today's equivalent of the local weekly newspapers that once proliferated.

It was created with the help of a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Former BJ staffers Kymberli Hagelberg, the editor, Dave Wilson, Sarah Vradenburg and David Lee Morgan, Jr. are involved with the Bath-Fairlawn Patch online community news gatherers.

Click on the headline to go to the Akronist web site.

Orbitz coughs up $231.40 over flight ticket

From Bob Dyer's column in today's Beacon Journal:

'Round and 'round

After we wrote about a Cuyahoga Falls man who believed he had been wronged by the online travel discounter Orbitz, the company cut him a voucher for $231.40.

That's the amount he had to cough up to rebook a flight after he discovered Orbitz had sold him a round-trip ticket from Akron to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and back to. . .Pittsburgh.

Orbitz claims the fault was entirely with http://Kayak.com, which he used to initiate the search — even though the actual booking was done on Orbitz.

I'm still waiting to hear from the Orbitz people why an AirTran flight advertised on their site — for more than $100 less than the price on the AirTran site — mysteriously vanished when a customer tried to book it.

Apparently, Orbitz is less than eager to talk about ''fare jumping,'' something they have been accused of repeatedly.

I lived in Cuyahoga Falls when Dyer and I shared a lunch table daily in the BJ Blue Room although I moved to Tallmadge in 2006.

Click on the headline to read Dyer's original story about this battle between Orbitz and John Olesky.

Baltimore Sun Guild OKs contract extension

Members of the union representing most newsroom, advertising and other workers at The Baltimore Sun decided with a voice vote to approve a three-year contract extension Wednesday night that will freeze wages for the first two years while raising the company's contribution to 401(k) retirement plans.

Most of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild leadership had recommended approval, calling the plan a better deal than many other journalists have received during the past few years — despite the wage provision and a permanent benefit freeze under the company pension plan.

"They accepted the extension rather than engage in the contract battle," said Cet Parks, executive director of the Guild, adding that some members expressed concern over wage freezes.

The Guild represents about 225 employees at The Baltimore Sun — fewer than half the workers it did when the last contract was approved four years ago.

Click on the headline to read the full story in the Sun

Phil Trexler's book on ballparks out

Beacon Journal staff writer Phil Trexler has another book out. This one, Ballparks, Yesterday & Today, profiles 70 of America's famous ballparks and includes photos.and memorabilia.

The hardcover edition by Publications International is 180 pages and is available for $17.95 with free shipping–or two dollars less on Amazon.com.

His first book, Cleveland Indians, Yesterday and Today was released in May 2009 by the same publisher. Trexler has been at the BJ for two decades and has won Press Club awards for his work.

Black Press profit: $17 million

Last year was a profitable one for Black Press Ltd., the Canada-based owner of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, as it bought, sold and merged newspapers.

Black bought the Beacon Journal in 2007.

An earnings report filed by Torstar Corp., which owns almost one-fifth of Black Press, shows the Victoria, British Columbia-based Black Press had an about $17 million profit excluding impairment charges during 2010. That compared with about $12.9 million of earnings in 2009.

The year was a busy one for Black Press, which publishes more than 100 weekly and daily newspapers and shoppers. It bought more than a dozen newspapers, at least four of which it closed.

The purchases included the Honolulu Advertiser, which Black merged with its Honolulu Star-Bulletin to create the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. In the process it fired more than 450 people as CEO David Black combined the operations while hiking advertising rates and prices for commercial printing at his Kapolei press.

Read the complete story in Hawaii Reporter

Retired BJ printer Lloyd Leadbetter dies

Composing retiree Carl Nelson brought a Canton Repository clipping of an obituary for retired BJ printer Lloyd Leadbetter. It wasn't in the BJ. Here it is:


Lloyd S. Leadbetter
Age 87 of Canton died Saturday evening (Feb. 12, 2011) in Aultman Hospital. Born in Thorburn, Nova Scotia to the late John H. and Margaret C. (Chambers) Leadbetter.

Lloyd was a veteran, having served with the Royal Canadian Army during World War II. He came to the United States in 1957 when he accepted a job with the Canton Repository, and retired in 1986 from the Akron Beacon Journal.

He also was a driver with Davis Tours. Lloyd was a member of Christ Presbyterian Church where he had been active with the food bank for over 30 years; he was also a founding member and a member of Canton-Akron Scottish Association.

Survivors include his wife, Harriet (Swartz) Leadbetter, to whom he would have been married 51 years; two daughters, Heather Leadbetter of the residence and Karin and her husband, Jason Swick of Minnesota; three grandchildren, Camille, Lily and Hawthorne; brothers and sisters-in-law, Charlie and Jeanne Swartz, and Tom and Ellie Jackson; numerous nieces and nephews also survive.

Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Christ Presbyterian Church with Rev. David deVries officiating. A private interment will be in St. Jacob's Cemetery. Friends may call on Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Spiker-Foster- Shriver Funeral Home, 710 Tuscarawas St. W. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Memorial Fund of Christ Presbyterian Church, 530 Tuscarawas St. W., Canton, OH 44702. You may sign our guestbook at:
www.shriverfuneralhomes.com

Spiker-Foster-Shriver Funeral Homes & Cremation Service
330-455-0349 www.shriverfuneralhomes.com

[Published in The Canton Repository from February 14 to February 15, 2011]

Lloyd was a legend for loading BJ folks onto a bus and driving them to sites that were a reasonable distance from Akron.

Scintillating Seven at monthly BJ lunch

Seven showed up today at the monthly gathering of BJ Alums for Papa Joe's food and conversation. You have to go back to March 2010, when 12 showed up, for a larger crowd.

Composing retiree Cal Deshong, at 92, is the dean of the BJ lunch bunch. Composing retiree Gene McClellan, at 71, is the "baby" of the group, although engraving retiree Pat Dougherty is close at 72. Others who showed up today were Composing retirees Al Hunsicker and Carl Nelson and newsroom retirees Tom Moore and John Olesky. By the way, that's not a smudge on the photo or on Pat D.'s forehead. Today is Ash Wednesday. Catholics know the connection.

Five showed up in February -- Composing retirees Denzil Parker and Ed Hantzel, Hunsicker, McClellan and Nelson.

No one showed up in a January snowstorm, breaking the low of 2 in February 2010 when only Dougherty and McClellan showed up in THAT snowstorm.

The highest attendance in the past 3+ years was 23 in July 2008 for the Bob Pell/Sandy Levenson memorial lunch.

It's open to anyone who works or worked at the BJ in any department. It happens at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Papa Joe's Restaurant, 1561 Akron-Peninsula Road, where A-P Road and Portage Trail meet.

Visit BJ artists AND Connie Bloom at same time

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

If you go to Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market Street in Akron, April 29-June 5 to see the works of past and current Akron Beacon Journal artists Chuck Ayers, John Backderf, Art Krummel, Dennis Balogh, Kathy Hagedorn and Brian Shellito, you also can go to the third floor and see former BJ staffer Connie Bloom's quilt artwork.

Connie has become quite a quilt art guru in Akron and Ohio. She is publisher/editor of QSDS (Quilt Surface Design Symposium), a quarterly online magazine about fabric art. Her Connie's Quilting Arts Studio and Gallery is next to the Akron Art Museum.

Responding to my inquiry, Connie -- my former co-worker in the BJ Features Department -- sent this email:


John,

My studio is upstairs on the 3rd floor of Summit Artspace and I will be open, as always, during the opening of Fresh Air and all other exhibitions. I have become the resident quilt artist of SA and, indeed, downtown Akron, and moved in in September.

I am one of five independent artists juried into private studios by the Akron Area Arts Alliance.

There are also two arts organizations housed on the 3rd floor so there is plenty for visitors to see and tons of quality shopping.

I have lots of people coming through so I won't be doing any (maybe one) festivals this summer since quilts are selling where I am. I am very happy.

Warmly,
Connie Bloom

Come pet the art quilts in my new digs at Summit Art Space, 140 E. Market St. in downtown Akron. (330-472-0161).

Join in the monthly Artwalk, which is 5-10 p.m. the first Saturday of each month -- year-round. Doors also are open by appointment and on the first Sunday of the month from noon-4 p.m.

Click on the headline to read the BJ Alums article on the exhibition, including meeting the BJ artists in person at the 5-7 p.m. Friday, April 29 opening reception.

Dick Latshaw finds photos of U.S. military in Pacific during World War II

BJ Composing retiree Dick Latshaw, who lives on Pawleys Island, South Carolina, sent the URL for 110 fantastic photos of U.S. military in the Pacific in World War II collected by the Denver Post. It begins with the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. The U.S. command, by clustering the ships and planes for easier maintenance, made it easier for the Japanese to damage and sink a huge chunk of the American fleet and to destroy most of the Honolulu-based planes.

The 110 photos, mostly Associated Press pictures, wind up with Gen. Douglas MacArthur signing the Japanese surrender agreement on the USS Missouri.

To see the photos, click on the headline.

Northeast Ohio quartet crosses paths at sea

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Paula and I were enjoying the evening show on the Grand Princess during our Feb. 14-28 Caribbean cruise. Somewhere between Curacao and Grenada, an illusionist – we used to call them magicians – came on stage and did a routine involving a newspaper, the Medina Gazette!

The illusionist was Peter Gossamer, who was Peter Gensemer as a 1976 Medina High School graduate on his way to a marketing degree from Kent State University. His on-stage assistant was Carol Maccri. They met in New Jersey about a decade ago and will wed May 15, 2011.

The next night a comedian walked on stage. He was Kevin Hughes, the 11th of 12 children in a Cleveland home. His schooling included St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, the University of Texas, North Carolina-Charlotte and California Coast University, where he got another undergraduate degree and a masters in psychology.

And three tours with the U.S. Army.

It was my 11th cruise among the 62 trips that I have taken since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal, where I was, in order, assistant State Desk editor, newsroom electronics coordinator, copy desk makeup man and television editor.

If you want to see our photos of the Caribbean cruise, click on the headline.

If you want to see how our battle with Orbitz over an unwanted open-jaw round trip flight turned out, go to Orbitz

Brown to perform mid-Lent organ recital

Akron Organist J. Curtis Brown, a former Beacon Journal reporter who lives in Highland Square, will present an organ recital for Mid-Lent meditation at 4 p.m., Sunday, April 3, 2011 (Mid-Lent) at New Life Episcopal Church, 13118 Church Ave. NW, Uniontown, Ohio. (330) 699-3554.

The program includes quieter organ works by Antonio Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Franz Liszt, Cesar Franck, Jean Langlais, George Oldroyd, Healey Willan, Gordon Young and Dale Wood. A reception will follow the recital. Brown will perform on the church's Rodgers Organ in the historic country church setting of New Life Episcopal.

In addition to duties as organist/choirmaster at New Life, Brown, one of the senior organists in the region, is a teacher of piano and organ and studied at Oberlin and Baldwin-Wallace conservatories as well as with the faculty from the University of Akron in his high school years.

Convenient directions may be found on the church's web page

Denny O'Neil, former BJ Circulation, dies

Dennis ``Denny' O'Neil died unexpectedly March 1, 2011 at the young age of 64.

Denny was born in Akron to the late Charles and Margaret (Flowers) O'Neil. He spent many years working for the Akron Beacon Journal and currently worked for the Youngstown Vindicator. He was a hard worker and a wonderful father and grandfather who was incredibly involved with his family and friends. He loved boasting about his children and grandchildren and when he wasn't spending time with those whom he loved most, he could be found coaching CYO basketball, running or competing. He loved his family and was loved very much; he was a good friend and protector.

Along with his parents, Denny was preceded in death by his brother, Mike. He is survived by his daughters, Jennifer (James) Lewis, Meghan (John) Lovaty and Heather (Randy) Clevenger; grandchildren, Lauren, Sara, Logan, Zac, Joe, Maggie (Margaret) and Jack; significant other, Kelli Maughan; sister, Charlene (Jack) Kilway; and many other loving family and friends.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, 10 a.m. at Queen of Heaven Church, 1800 Steese Rd., Uniontown. Visitation will be Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. at HENNESSY-BAGNOLI FUNERAL HOME, 936 N. MAIN STREET, AKRON. Denny's final resting place will be Holy Cross Cemetery.


Published in Akron Beacon Journal from March 3 to March 4, 2011

Denny worked in the BJ Circulation Department for 20 years, business department retiree Harold McElroy of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, emailed, adding "He started as a District Manager. Ended in charge of telemarketing."

Former BJ employee Al Frattura described Denny as "a great guy and one who always had a smile."

Dennis was sales marketing manager for the Youngstown Vindicator at the time of his death.

BJ artists on display: April 29-June 5

Upcoming Exhibition at Summit Artspace

140 E. Market St. Akron, Ohio

April 29-June 5 , 2011

Opening reception will be Friday, April 29th 5pm-7pm.

Get a chance to see and meet past and current artists of the Akron Beacon Journal including Chuck Ayers (Crankshaft), John Backderf (Derfcity), Brian Shellito, Art Krummel, Dennis Balogh and Kathy Hagedorn.

Carrie moved to Edwin Shaw Hospital

BJ Alums got this email from BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore about his daughter, Caroline "Carrie" Moore Krack, who was hospitalized in January with meningitis.

folks:

daughter carol is being moved to edwin shaw hospital for her rehab, so
looks like she's out of the woods.

thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers. i'm sure they were a
big part of her recovery.

daddy tom

Click on the headline for previous posts on Carrie's situation.

Phjl Meyer: Who Needs Newspapers

When discussing the future of newspapers, there is no better-qualified person to enlist than our own Phil Meyer who was Washington correspondent for the Akron Beacon Journal from 1962-1966 and since 1993 has been the Knight Chair in Journalism Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Here is the latest from Meyer on Who Needs Newspapers.

Update on Carrie Moore Krack

John Krack, husband of Carrie Moore Krack, daughter of BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore, sent updates to BJ Alums blog. The main, encouraging elements:

She’s wide awake, very alert, and oriented. She remembers minute details from the past. She doesn’t remember the first trip to the ER on Jan. 1, or the last two months, except maybe some bits and pieces.

She remembers hospital people she talked with recently, even remembering some names.

We went through about 20 of the cards you’ve sent to her. Some she was able to read, and others (particularly those with longer messages in cursive handwriting) she wanted me to read to her. She commented on the beautiful cards, chuckled at the humorous ones, understood the messages, recognized the senders, and really appreciated your thoughtfulness.


Click on the headline for previous updates on Tom's daughter, who was hospitalized with meningitis.