My 50-year career at the Cincinnati Post started almost by accident.
The Newport High School I attended in 1943 ended classes in late May.
A summer job was appealing so I followed up on Post help want ads at a large Newport bakery and The Post. After my bus ride back home my mother told me both the bakery and The Post called wanting me to come to work that day. She advised me to take The Post job because it would outlast the bakery. It has by many years.
My first job at the paper was as a copy boy. That entailed running all kinds of errands, including riding streetcars to outlying neighborhoods to get pictures of servicemen killed in action. That wasn't a pleasant part of the job but I learned a lot about people and the city.
Next was a promotion to the wire room, a side room full of Teletype machines, mostly bringing news of the war effort around the world. Following that was a job as financial clerk, compiling stock tables and market reports. But I never forgot wire room training that five Teletype bells meant a bulletin was coming and 10 was a flash.
Late one afternoon after most staffers had gone home there was a constant ringing of bells. I went into the wire room and found a four-word message: President Roosevelt has died.
I took that to managing editor Bob Linn who was in the men's room shaving. He barked out orders, including: Go over to Gatto's (Paddle Casino) and tell everyone to get back to work. The Post rapidly put out an "Extra" edition.
Sam Gatto, a friendly and trusting man, ran a small restaurant across Post Square from the paper. Some Post employees who lunched there kept their daily tab on a wooden ice cream paddle, settling their weekly bill on payday.
My next adventure was the Army, helping replace WWII servicemen, including my older brothers. The Army took me as far as Tokyo serving in General Headquarters in the Army of Occupation. There were a number of generals but Douglas A. MacArthur was the general.
I returned to The Post in March, 1947. My ambition was to become a reporter, and there was plenty of encouragement.
Managing editor Bob Linn said anyone who spent his evenings attending classes at Xavier University Evening College deserves that chance.
There also was plenty of encouragement from James Shea, who taught journalism at Xavier, the late Russell McCormick, veteran Post reporter whose silver hair earned him the nickname, the Silver Fox, and my wife, Mary.
She said any man who wanted 10 children needed a job with a better future.
I had many jobs at The Post, including business editor, assistant city editor, city editor, columnist and editorial writer. Side jobs included being "stringer" for Time and Fortune magazines for 25 years.
There were many memorable moments at The Post but rarely a dull one. I and many others, will miss The Post when it's gone.
Publication date: 12-31-2007
