Dear Editor,
I'd like to publicly thank Herb Brock for his column last Friday and Annabel Girard for her remarks in a story by Todd Kleffman about my retirement from The Advocate-Messenger.
Along with Sports Editor Larry Vaught, Annabel and Herb have written more stories about the people and issues of Danville and the surrounding area than anyone else in history. If I did anything right as an editor at the Advocate, it was to have enough sense to recognize their talent, smooth their paths when possible and try not to block their light. Having great reporters like Annabel and Herb made the job of managing editor easy, and I am greatly indebted to them.
There is one other person, however, without whom I never would have survived my first day at the Advocate back in the summer of 1979. That person is Brenda S. Edwards. She was the queen of the Advocate newsroom then and remains so today - inspiring yet another generation of young reporters and editors.
