rekkidblogga

Final run

Ed from the Sports copy desk died this week. Another guy ran a red light and slammed into Ed's car. That was that -- the end of a life.

Our newspaper offered buyouts to a number of newsroom employees last summer and Ed was among the group who left. He enjoyed six months of retirement before he died at 3 p.m. on a busy stretch of suburban Atlanta road. He was in his early 60s but didn't look it. Ed got married four years ago. He was a vegetarian. Ed was a Red Sox fan. He was quiet, thoughtful and gentle. Kind. Ed was kind.

Ed's passing marks the third loss in our newsroom this year alone. First, we lost a colleague in my group -- Diane -- who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and died within a month. She was 42. Derrick had been suffering a long illness and died just a couple of weeks ago. And now Ed. We've lost many good people during my eight years at the paper: Dan, Doug, Prentis, Jeffrey, Diane, Derrick, Carrie's husband, Ed, Jeanine. There are folks I know I haven't listed, but it wasn't on purpose.

Every death is untimely. Every life matters to us. We miss our friends.

Labels: accidents, deaths, newspapers, work

posted by rekkidbraka @ 11:28 AM