Wednesday, October 2, 2024

This will be my final Observations. I have decided to hang up my pen, put away the typewriter and step away from the internet after 68 years of writing columns.  The last almost-seven decades have been a great experience overall.  I made a lot of people happy, a few not so happy, and some will be even happier still to learn this writes finis.

I am told I hold the state journalism record as the journalist who has written a column for the longest number of years.

The first column I wrote was while a Sophomore at Marthaville High School.  That was October 1956, and the column was titled “‘Round Marthaville High School.”  It appeared in The Natchitoches Times and the Natchitoches Enterprise.  The column ran through March 13, 1958, when I graduated from high school.

While a student at Northwestern State College, I wrote a column in The Natchitoches Times titled “Notes of a Roving Reporter.”  The first one appeared on the front page of The Times on June 20, 1963, and it continued regularly until July 25.  It was then I changed the name to “Ballyhoo” and began writing about politics.  I continued the column until Nov. 5, 1964.

As editor of the Northwestern newspaper, The Current Sauce, in 1963-64, I wrote a column entitled “From the Editor’s Easy Chair.”

I came to Many to run The Sabine Index and on Nov. 13, 1964, wrote my first column for the weekly parish newspaper I would eventually own. That column was also called “From the Editor’s Easy Chair.”

The title “Observations” was first used on Jan. 15, 1965.  I changed how the heading looked over the years and eventually added a tagline, “News, Views, Facts and Opinions.”

After I sold The Index to the now-deceased Lovan Thomas who owned The Natchitoches Times and other papers, Tedd Dumas was nice enough to invite me to occupy an office in his radio station building.  For several years, I wrote Observations for the BDC website and at that time, started an Observations Facebook page as well.  When Tedd first urged me to write it for the BDC site, he said, “You write what you want.”  I always did, and I appreciate the opportunity he gave me.  We have been friends for many years, and that friendship continues today.

Sometime afterwards, Lovan approached me and asked if I would return to the pages of the Index and once again write Observations for the newspaper. We worked out an arrangement where each column published online would be published in the Index one week later, which seemed to work well. The first Observations column that ran in the Index again after my sale of the newspaper appeared on July 8, 2020.  I want to thank Editor Daniel Jones and Jeremy Cheatwood at The Index for always being so helpful and going out of their way to do whatever needed to be done to assist in publication.

A few years ago, I started my own Observations site on the internet. Ryan Roberson, a native of Zwolle, was kind enough to always promote and run articles on his popular news aggregate Facebook page, The Cenla Report.  He has always been there for us, and there are not words enough to tell him how much we appreciate all his efforts.

When my good friend, Valmore Byles, died some years back, I published a special issue of Observations about his life. It was posted on a Friday, and more than 7,000 persons read it. That was a record at the time, but after The Cenla Report started sharing Observations each week, readership rapidly increased, and persons from all over the world started reading. It was just amazing. Also, not long after The Cenla Report started posting the column, Observations was recognized by a premier news media and broadcasting platform service as "a shining example of excellence in the industry," which we appreciated very much.

I am most grateful to the many persons who have read and supported Observations through the years.  So many people supplied stories and photos, gave us tips on interesting happenings and provided encouragement.  I will never forget all the folks who mentioned to me through the years what the column meant to them and how much they enjoyed it.  I am deeply appreciative of each and every one.  In many ways, writing the column has been a fun, enjoyable task and has brought a lot of fulfillment.

One of the added benefits to writing a column for such a long time are the wonderful letters, phone calls and, more recently, messages and texts I have received over the years. Only this week I received the following from Max Teasley Jr., son of one of the best friends I ever had, the late Max Teasley of Zwolle.

"Mr. Gentry, I retired at the ripe old age of 70 this June. I live on 23 acres outside of Mena, AR. My sister, Connie Leone of Zwolle, came to visit me this weekend. She told me she had talked to your wife, and she said your wife mentioned that my dad was in one of your recent columns. I quickly looked you up.

"While reading many of your postings, my mind was flooded with wonderful memories of growing up following my dad around and all his friends. Some of my fondest memories involved you, like the time you gave me my first and only ride in a Rolls Royce, the time we took a trip to Nashville, my first and only time I was backstage at the Ryman, and then we went to the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree, and then on to WSM where we were interviewed by Ralph Emery. I don't remember if it was you or Daddy that got locked out of the motel room in their underwear.

"That trip was a once in a lifetime experience, and I thank you so very much.

"As I'm sure you are aware, the older you get, the more you reflect on the past. I'm now going to be an avid reader of Observations, for they remind me of my raising and all the great men (such as yourself) who influenced me.

"Thanks, Max Jr."

Throughout the last 68 years, I have attempted to always be a person of integrity and tell the truth.  Any failures have been of mind, not of heart.  I have always strived to keep the public good at heart while understanding that different people sometimes have very different approaches to address the situations and circumstances of life. 

It takes a lot of work each week to do the necessary research, attend meetings and other functions, take photos and do all the things involved in putting a column together.  At this stage in my life, I do not choose to devote that much time to the matter.

I would be remiss if I did not mention my wife, Laurie. I couldn’t have done it without her. After the column went online, for over 10 years she spent about a day of each week putting Observations together to be published electronically.  Several times, we also published special lagniappe columns on Fridays, in addition to the usual Wednesday offerings.  Whenever I needed her to, she would attend an event for me, cover it, take photos and write an article. After online publication each week, she would spend more time making sure the content got updated as appropriate and forwarded to the Index with all the photos for the following week's newspaper. In the last six years, she did all that while fighting and by God's grace, overcoming, two unrelated bouts of cancer. I can never thank Laurie enough.  She is a jewel.

There are several things that stand out in my mind about writing a column.  First of all, I tried to make it interesting to readers and tried to be a reliable, truthful disseminator of news and events.  I included many, many items I hoped would serve to encourage people along life’s way.

Often my columns had to do with politics.  I have always felt everyone has a duty and obligation to know what is going on in politics and in their government so they can make sound decisions when it is time to vote.

Thirdly, I deliberately used the column to help a lot of people in a lot of different ways.  I did my best to always lend a helping hand to anyone who approached me with a worthy cause needing help.  I cannot recall ever telling anyone “No."

Observations has been an effective doorway to meet a lot of interesting people I would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise, including a few who became treasured friends along the way. I owe to Observations my friendships with Country music legend Roy Acuff, Louisiana Governors Jimmie Davis and Edwin Edwards, and more recently, “Bridges of Madison County” author Robert James Waller, who stood beside me as Best Man when Laurie and I were married 18 years ago. There are many more, but time and space prevent them from being remembered just now.

For these and many more reasons too numerous to mention, I am blessed to have been lucky enough to write Observations and other columns for all these 68 years. There were weeks I missed writing a column, but in all those years, I figure I wrote somewhere north of 25,000 columns. I hope I helped some people along life’s highway. I hope I provided folks with useful and helpful information. I hope I provided a few laughs, and I hope I stimulated some thought.  Most of all, I hope I have shared things that might have led someone to have a closer walk with God. A personal relationship with the Almighty is all that matters in this life, and all that will get you into the next one.

Back in the day, we old-time journalists were taught to use -30- to indicate the end of a story.  I have used it all my journalistic life. And with this, I offer my final

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