The News & Uncle John

November 3, 2022

Throwback Thursday (and fond memories): My first salaried job in journalism after I received my master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri was as what I call an "all-purpose" journalist (editor, reporter, writer, photographer, page designer, composer) with the now-defunct Newburgh Evening News in Newburgh, New York, from 1989 to 1990. I was age 28 and 29.

My coverage area was from Cornwall to Washingtonville to Monroe-Woodbury in upstate New York. I covered high school sports, and general community news and features as the founding editor of the Southeast Orange News, the first of three 24-page weekly sections in the daily newspaper.

On my first day of work, I was given a thin reporters notepad, a pen, a map, and a camera with a roll of film. The managing editor of the main paper (my boss) showed me my coverage area on the map. He told me to get back with him in two weeks with enough stuff (my articles and my photos) to fill the 24 pages for the first issue of the tabloid-sized newspaper insert. I would then have to fill 24 pages every week. I did it, and I kept on filling those pages every week.

Here is the photo that appeared with my opinion column that I would write every week. The quality of this photo isn't that good because it is old and was printed on inexpensive paper due to its immediate and constant use in the newspaper every week. My necktie looks like it is cut off because that's the bottom of the photo.

Oh, I have to tell you. Every week, I was required to take a photo of someone for what we called "Smile of the Week." So, for the first issue, I went into a department store and took a photo of a female cashier. After the first issue came out, someone in the area who saw her photo approached me and asked me if I knew who she was. I said a cashier. This person proceeded to tell me that she was the local prostitute. LOL ... Oh, well.

I would like to take this related opportunity to present my many thanks to my father's fraternity brother John and his wife Ruth for allowing me to live in their house for those many rough months when I was just starting out as a journalistic neophyte, working hard and eventually trying to find an apartment. They lived in the area and were an absolute godsend.

(I did pay them a little rent each month.)

The first article I wrote for the first issue was about Ruth; she was involved in the Literacy Council at the local library.

I must apologize to Uncle John and Aunt Ruth for overstaying my welcome. To be honest, it was just so difficult for me to leave these two wonderful people whom I consider to be my second set of parents. They both attended my wedding ceremony and reception on February 4, 2006. My father passed in 1997, so having Uncle John there was almost like having my father there.

Throughout the 1960s, our families, along with another of my dad's fraternity brothers and his family, would rent cabins for a week in Cape Cod every summer: three cabins, six parents, and seven kids. During the 1970s, our families would visit each other's homes in upstate New York; on Long Island, New York (my family); and in Pennsylvania.

I am deeply saddened by the passing of John this year. Ruth is still going strong. John and Ruth, and their three children (Debbie, Cathy, and Jack), just radiated so much love that it was overwhelming. They still do, and I cherish the many heartwarming memories and all of the laughs. R.I.P. Uncle John. You are sorely missed. 

(It has taken me many months to get myself to write about Uncle John because of my severe heartache over his passing.) 

Be well, and thanks for reading.