My one-year anniversary with the Austin Post-Bulletin came and went last week. In many ways, it's hard to believe I've been here a whole year already. I've learned so much and developed a lot of good relationships with people through my work during that time.
One of those relatively newer relationships was with Post-Bulletin columnist and editorial page editor Greg Sellnow, a veteran journalist who spent 26 years with the company. Sadly, Greg died unexpectedly over the weekend when he apparently had a medical emergency while driving home from the state high school hockey tournament.
I received a call from my editor Sunday morning with the sad news. It's still pretty hard to believe and accept. Actually, the high school hockey tournament was one of the last things Greg and I talked about the last time he was down at our Austin office, March 1.
He told me how he and his son had made a tradition of going to a couple of the semifinal games. Getting tickets was sometimes a challenge, but they always knew they'd get to see some good hockey, he said.
Greg had been mentoring me as a writing coach, something that we had just started in February. It seemed to be a great fit so far - a journalist with years of experience under his belt giving pointers to a young reporter. We had met a few times to discuss my stories, how to report on meetings in particular, and I enjoyed the conversations we had.
One of the last meeting stories I emailed to him for his critique was a tough story about the Austin city council. A heated exchange during the meeting had me struggling to find the right way to tell the story. I spent a lot of time - maybe even too much - on the story and finally submitted it to Greg just after 11 p.m. that evening.
His response was helpful, respectful and encouraging. I look back at his emails now and already miss him, even though we'd only been in a touch for a short time. I'll also miss reading his columns, which I already made sure to read when I'd go through my stack of papers.
On a selfish note, I will miss Greg as my mentor because I will always wonder about what could have been. I'll write some more meeting stories and then probably wonder what he would have to say about them. How's my lead? Did I arrange the information appropriately? Did I make good use of the quotes?
I'll also miss being able to talk about hockey, the Minnesota Twins or church with him. He was a kind man and a good guy.
My thoughts and prayers are with Greg's family and his friends at the Post-Bulletin. Greg, you'll be missed.
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