For the last 44 years, I have worked at the Journal-Herald, Dayton Daily News, Middletown Journal and the Journal-News. I have had a tremendous run in the strenuous profession that sends most journalists into a different job.
Now, for the first time, I’m not writing full-time.
I have retired from the Journal, though I’m staying on as a contractor, a fancy term for someone paid per story.
I have worked for the Journal since Sports Editor Jerry Nardiello hired me in 1987. I’m forever grateful Nard took a chance on me. Someone told me my career would have made Nard proud. I hope so.
Throughout my career, I have been blessed to work with Ritter Collett, Si Burick and Hal McCoy, all members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. And I can’t forget Nardiello, a member of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame who worked at the Journal for more than 60 years. I think Nard was my age, 63, when he hired me. That’s hard to believe.
At the time, the Journal sports department included Nard, Tim Willis and me. Before every high school sports season, we held the shortest staff meeting in history. Nard said he would cover the Middletown Middies and Tim and I could split up the other 14 high schools. Then the meeting ended.
Middletown has been home for me, though I live in Springboro with my wife, Tammy, and daughter, Hannah. Those two certainly desire a lot of credit for allowing me to be a journalist, Tammy has warmed up dinner more times than I can count due to a sporting event going late or breaking news. This isn’t a 9 to 5 job.
I’m also grateful for the loyal readers and advertisers of the Journal. Without them, there are no local newspapers. I hope that never happens. We can’t allow Facebook to be our source for local news.
My co-workers have been more like family. I have attended their weddings, baby showers, retirement parties and funerals. Some of my best friends either are my co-workers or those I met as a reporter. I spent 40 hours a week with some co-workers before COVD-19 sent all of us to our home offices.
It’s been odd waking up in the morning now with no deadlines on my radar. Deadlines have been a way of life for as long as I can remember. Journalists work the best under pressure. It gets our blood flowing. File a story in five minutes? We will file it in four minutes, 59 seconds.
I also will miss the daily interaction with the readers. They have invited me into their homes, told me their stories and trusted me to be accurate. Being right is more important than being first. That should be our Golden Rule.
As my retirement neared, people have asked me about my favorite story. Man, that’s a hard one. I have written thousands of stories the last 44 years.
If I had to pick one, it would be a series I did many years ago called “Dying With Dignity.” It looked at Hospice Care of Middletown through the eyes of Boyd Baker. A dying man, I followed him the last six months of his life. I visited him once a week, and our conversations centered around how he faced death and the closer it got, the more he leaned on his new-found faith.
The hospice nurses were incredible. When Baker passed I attended his funeral. There were rows and rows of white chairs in the funeral home, and the mourners were hospice nurses and me.
A few weeks later, the series ran in the Middletown Journal. The outpouring of comments were overwhelming. People who were diagnosed with cancer and those who had buried someone who died from cancer, sent me emails or called. They said the series helped them heal some of their emotional wounds.
I’m thankful that Michael Williams, then my editor, allotted the time for the series.
My sources also deserve a lot of credit. They have trusted me to tell their stories, and when they said something off the record, they knew it was off the record. I never burned any bridges. You can’t in this business.
Please keep supporting local journalism. It was important when I started in 1980, and it’s important today.
Want to share a comment or a tip? Email me at rmccrabb1@gmail.com
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