COLUMN: Journalism mostly about the company you keep

My wife and I once went to a Mullins funeral home visitation and were surprised by a very large crowd.

The turnout made me feel very good, because the funeral was for Johnny Ellis, once a Morning News photographer. Johnny, one of the nicest people I ever worked with, was a Vietnam vet who was always ready to help with projects for the paper or for ourselves.

I knew he was a good guy, but the visitation turnout really struck me. I learned that for years before his death, he had played Santa Claus at Lake View Christmas events.

The other day, I thought about colleagues on the Morning News staff who have gone on to that great newsroom in the sky, some earlier than they should have.

Another photographer, Sonny Smith, who joined us while in high school and with a brief exception stayed until his untimely death in his early thirties, was as nice as they come.

He was an unusual combination of a young guy who not only talked a clean living game but actually lived it. Sonny said the only time he ever tasted alcohol was when another staffer who was thoroughly, obnoxiously drunk, was offended by his trying to keep the drinker out of trouble and threw a drink in Sonny’s face. He just sighed, persevered and kept the guy out of trouble.

He came down with leukemia, and at the Medical University of South Carolina it was put in remission. But it returned and his last day of work was photographing the inauguration of Gov. James Edwards. Sonny did some of the best work of that kind I ever saw. We published a page of his pictures the day of his funeral and it made an impressive page.

The best natured person I ever knew, I believe, was Billy Gilbert, sports editor in the late 1970s and ‘80s.

Gilbert had a fine sense of humor and wanted a good time. His signature project was an occasional canoe trip down a Pee Dee stream that made a good feature and drew numerous followers, not including me. I figured they would spend as much time carrying boats past blocked or shallow spots as floating, and participants told me I was right.

He was fun and a good writer. Gilbert wrote a good column and good-naturedly rolled with the punches when emotional backers of various teams scolded him.

Pat MacEachern was women’s editor during my early days on the staff. She gave our staff a new style and tried to do the same for me. She also encouraged my relationship with fellow staffer Sandra Nofal — encouragement that led to marriage.

Carl Reynolds was the closest thing to Damon Runyon I ever knew. As police reporter, he thoroughly enjoyed writing about those who got in trouble with the law and then spent time with them after their sentences were up. Like Runyon, he wrote about and socialized with his subjects.

Jimmie Owens was a veteran who went back to college, then joined our staff. He was another who liked the police beat, sometimes bringing back stories not fit to print, so to say. Later he worked in PR for Florence County.

Joe Rickenbaker came out of Georgia to become managing editor and held that job close to 20 years. He was another good guy who knew how to handle the pressures and problems of what I learned later was a very difficult job. He gave me a generous share of the newsroom travel budget which included enabling me to take my Amtrak Caper, riding trains around the country.

Editor James Rogers probably was the most important news staffer. He returned to the paper after resentment of its moderate response to the Supreme Court’s 1954 school desegregation decision got it in hot water. Rogers’ diplomacy cooled the furor without sacrificing our moderate position. He also was one of the local leaders who paved the way for creation of Francis Marion University, and his name is on the front of the FMU library.

There were others who have passed on, but space is limited. Thinking of them reminds me that the company you get to keep is what brings some of us to journalism.

Thom Anderson is the former editor of the Morning News. Contact him THIDBIT@aol.com.