the editor talks with you

Most of us have a lot to be thankful for this year. We live in the greatest, freest, most exciting country in the world. Few of us suffer hunger or poverty. We have more opportunities in one day than most people have in a lifetime.

An aging editor has more than his share but here, at the risk of boring you, are the events and people who blessed my life:

• The happy accident of going to work for a South Carolina newspaper rather than the one I left in North Carolina. That led to meeting the girl of my dreams.

• Her decision to come back to South Carolina, not Florida, where she met a poor editor, married him and stuck with him through some hard times for 54 years.

• Our children, dogs and cats who became the most expensive acquisitions in our lives and are worth every penny.

• The life of a vagabond newspaper editor that has taken us all over the world before planting us firmly in Lexington County almost 35 years ago. We’ve come home.

• Our many friends who have graciously helped us as readers and advertisers. No newspaper can survive without them.

• Great parents. It’s a wise child who picks good ones. I was extra lucky.

• Good in-laws. Marrying into a military family was one of the best decisions I ever made. Of course I did not know it at the time. I just wanted their daughter. I got lucky and picked up the entire clan.

I am thankful for marrying Col. Preston B. Hardy’s daughter. Without that divinely guidance, he and I would have never met.

It was not a relationship made in heaven. From the git-go, he let me know he was not happy a newspaper editor had won his oldest daughter’s heart. That set him to challenging and testing his son-in-law.

We competed in just about any game you can name. He bested me in several and lost to me in others. He never quite forgave me for taking his daughter and the largest bass - 9 lbs. to be exact - from his pond.

After graduation from Wofford, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, flew recon missions over France and Holland and fighter cover on bombing raids over Germany.

Near the end of his career, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam. His youngest son Tim, a career military officer, wrote me about this chapter in his eventful life.

“Dad was shot down while flying a fast FAC over North Vietnam. He flew more missions than any other attached pilot, 15 in total. He was on the way home to Phu Cat when he began experiencing “compressor stalls” in the F-100. He was at good altitude and turned out to sea before ejecting.

“A Jolly Green rescue helicopter picked him up. He received minor injuries and, since they were the result of enemy fire, was awarded the Purple Heart.”

He might be surprised to learn that I consider him a great man and contentious friend. And I am thankful that he came home and gave me the Vietnamese flu.

It cured me of smoking.

Special Chritmas gifts

Looking for something unique for someone who has everything? How about a personally autographed book from our Authors for Literacy? 20 authors will sign their books for you at the Lexington library 11 am to 2 pm Saturday, Dec. 1.