goodby stu and deb and good luck

A couple of good friends and former colleagues are bidding farewell to the North Coast and heading for warmer pastures. Stu Warner, former columnist (with a hat), sports, and assistant managing editor at the Akron Beacon Journal is going back to the newsroom in Phoenix, Ariz...after a four years absence from the profession. When he left the Beacon, he joined the paper up North as a writer coach and then left there and free-lanced. His wife, Debbie Van Tassel Warner, is going with him, of course. She's leaving a job as an assistant managing editor at the Plain Dealer. I worked with both of them for a lot of years. Both are good at what they do and a real credit to the profession of journalism. And I think that trait was lost on the honchos who came in from the corporation. More than once, I would find “Warner's Corner” column worth page one when I was news editor that day. And Deb, well she started on the National Desk,went on to become business editor when the business pages were all business. But she lost that job when some honcho decided the business editor should have somebody with an MBA in charge. At least that's the way I heard it. Debbie moved on, taking a job as business editor in Seattle. That worked out great for me. Dot and I took six weeks and saw the country...including Seattle. And Debbie showed us the sights in Seattle. She returned to the Beacon and when I retired she was Sunday news editor and I was her assistant. She was easy to work for and respected my decisions. After she left for the PD and I retired, we would have lunch occasionally to rehash old times and talk of family and friends. When their daughter was a youngster, my youngest baby-sat once in a while. Arizona's gain is our lost of two talent journalist and my good friends. Enjoy the sunshine and keep giving our profession a good name. Stu and Deb...you will be missed here.