While pumping gas one day last year, grumbling at how fast the numbers move on the pump, Elmwood carpet wizard Joe Merrick stopped to ask a question that runs through my mind every few weeks.
“When someone dies, how do you decide who to write about?” Those aren’t his exact words, but that was the sense of it. Who rates more than an obituary?
Who indeed?
As a young journalist, I vaguely recall explanations of which people were deemed so newsworthy that their deaths deserved consideration for the front page. Presidents. Top local politicians or captains of industry. Beloved athletes or religious leaders.
Then one cold day in January of 1993, Andre the Giant died. Somehow, a decision was made that night in the sports department to run a front-page story on the famed wrestler under the headline, “God puts sleeper hold on Andre the Giant.”
Despite the memorable headline, the days that followed were tense and included several lectures on news judgement and the sort.
All of which leads me back to Joe Merrick and to names of the deceased that occasionally appear in this space. There’s really no single answer for why.
Every death is significant. Every person has a story worth telling. The cold reality is that some get told, some do not.
In the case of this column, space available always makes a difference. But generally, most people mentioned are folks I’ve met and who made an impression.
Wayne Kersh fits that bill. Kersh died last week in a tragic accident at his service station, the same place where I first met him decades ago. Back then, Wayne seemed a grumpy guy who sold me crickets to help catch bluegill in strip mines. When I bought enough crickets, he got less grumpy. If we also talked about baseball, he became friendly.
Later, after moving to the area, I learned that Wayne’s love for baseball transcended fandom. He was involved in all levels of the sport for so many years that it’s no overstatement to say Kersh was Mr. Baseball in Farmington. That’s why a ballpark bears his name and is one of many reasons Kersh will be sorely missed.
The same goes for the late Ken Russell, 82, who died Jan. 19. Russell served as a district fish biologist for 53 years before health problems forced him to retire in 2016.
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between a person who was merely doing their job and someone who went above and beyond. Russell easily fell into the latter category. He cared deeply about the lakes under his care and tried to provide the best possible fishery for local anglers – even if that meant he had to raise fish in ponds around his own home. Those who fish public lakes in this area still reap the benefits of his foresight and hard work.
In the years since he retired, Russell was honored with a strip mine lake named in his honor and a conservation area dedicated to him at Lake Storey. All were deserved. So is mention here.
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Hey, the living also deserve special mention now and then. So here’s a shout out to Diana Hall, who has retired after running the Elmwood Elementary School for the past 16 years. As school secretary, she was always there with an answer and a smile, plus real compassion for the kids. Thank you. … Anybody who says jigsaw puzzles are relaxing obviously does not have pets. Our cat loves to sit in the middle of puzzles or to bat pieces onto the floor. Once pieces fall to the floor, our dog enjoys taking them off to eat, or at least chew. Who needs the stress? … Good news from the Park School Road recycling dropoff, which has been cleaned up. Remember, the site is for recycling only! … On the facing page are two columns by men named Guebert and, yes, they are brothers. The older Guebert is president of the Illinois Farm Bureau while his younger brother writes about ag issues with a view that is definitely not Farm Bureau-approved. And yes, the family gatherings are interesting according to Alan Guebert, who writes a regular column in this paper and said, “We were raised on the same dairy farm, but it’s amazing we turned out as different as we did.” … My favorite NFL name this season belongs to New Orleans Saints wide receiver Easop Winston Jr. His hands are the size you normally encounter only in fables. … While I’m not a big fan of all these fancy new candies, Sour Patch Kids are the bomb. It’s just too embarrassing to be seen buying them in public, so my kids have to supply me with the goods. … Parting shot: Hope you all stocked up with plenty of Jim Beam for the alleged “snowstorm.”
Contact Jeff Lampe at (309) 231-6040 or jeff@wklypost.com
