Writer’s Notebook: A death in the family

Published 12:30 am Saturday, September 26, 2020

Writing about a death in the family is difficult. Emotion tugs at us.

The sudden passing of Laura Sellers Earl on Tuesday at the age of 57 took us by surprise. For almost 30 years, Laura was part of our corporate family — principally at The Daily Astorian, but also at virtually all of our other properties — from Long Beach, Washington, to John Day.

Laura was one of the most versatile journalists I have known. She had three or four distinct careers within her long tenure at The Astorian. All of it was cloaked within a sunny demeanor that was a pleasure to be around, especially in a dark moment.

We gained Laura’s talent as part of a package. Her husband, Carl Earl, had responded to The Astorian’s advertisement for a production manager who would maintain the computers that were a growing element of our company in 1992. Carl had gained his cyber expertise in the U.S. Air Force.

Both the Earls had been working at Southern Methodist University within its publications department. In addition to retaining Carl, we hired Laura as an advertising designer.

Our managing editor, Dan Carter, spotted Laura’s aptitude and moved her to the editorial desk. In 1995, she became The Daily Astorian’s first female managing editor. She oversaw the development of a number of special series on topics ranging from the Port of Astoria to day care.

One of Laura’s good hires was Brad Bolchunos, who held down our Seaside bureau for years. Brad’s offbeat writing made him something of a cult figure among our younger readers. Their refrain was “Let’s Bolchunos.”

In her hiring interview, Laura noted that Brad listed ventriloquism as one of his skills. Whenever she asked Brad to show his ventriloquist skills, he demurred; until his last day on the job. During the staff meeting on that day, Brad opened a small box and brought out his dummy, a little boy. Brad had the entire ventriloquist schtick down. When it was time for the dummy to go back in the box, it resisted and continued talking from inside the box. It was the funniest scene ever in our conference room.

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was a two-week period during which our reporters dealt with a series of tragedies, including the suicide of a young man who lit himself on fire on an Astoria residential street, as well as the ghastly murder of a young girl. Laura realized the reporters needed to talk about it outside their newsgathering lives. Thus she brought a counselor into a staff meeting.

Laura was a good writer. She had good news sense. She grasped an element of Astoria’s eccentric culture — understanding that the town is a set of nooks and crannies.

Her most significant hires were Patrick Webb, who followed her as managing editor, and The Astorian’s current editor, Derrick DePledge.

In Pendleton, Laura was a big influence on my cousin, Kathryn Brown — who came to newspapering from nursing. “Laura was a wonderful mentor to me when I first started working for our newspapers,” Kathryn said. “She taught me the intricacies of Associated Press style and how to write a strong lead. I attended my first newspaper industry conference with her in 2002, which was a life- and career-changing event for me. I will always remember her journalistic wisdom, kindness and sense of humor.”

Chinook Observer editor Matt Winters recalled how Laura helped guide our company into the age of online journalism. “We were creating a new corporate-level position to lead digital efforts and Laura immediately came to mind as someone excited about innovation and also completely grounded in news professionalism,” he said. “She proved to be ideal in the role.”

But it is Laura’s humanity that most touches Winters. “She had a sort of sideways grin and humorous glimmer in her eyes when struck by the ironies and comedies of life — frankly honest without being judgmental — really an ideal trait in a news person.”

In addition to her role in our company, Laura had another professional life, with the Associated Press Media Editors — now the News Leaders Association. Being a group of small newspapers, our company had never become involved with APME. Laura did that and became its leader for 2016.

“Laura was a key voice for newsrooms in national debates on First Amendment issues and on the industry’s transformation to a digital future,” wrote Kathy Best, director of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.

Added Best: “As news of her death spread, editors around the country began sharing stories, nearly all with a common theme: how her generosity of spirit, sense of humor and dedication to the profession brought journalists together and helped make them better.”

In her last years, Laura was a utility relief pitcher in our company — as interim editor of a number of our properties. That ability to show up and immediately take the helm of a rural weekly or a specialized publication is rare.

It is easy for companies these days to hide behind their websites. But humanity is what the reading public craves. Laura Sellers Earl exuded that. This newspaper and our company — and so many of us — are the better for her being in our lives.