Post Scripts: Success

Success is a journey, not a destination. But before you become successful in life you need to have a goal in mind. I feel like my life has been a success, although I didn’t end up being a millionaire. To some people success means money, power and fame. To others it means family, peace and contentment. Success rarely occurs accidentally, but almost always results when desire and knowledge are put into action. When I was a young teenager I dreamed of someday owning my own newspaper and by the time I retired, I had owned several newspapers. So what more could I ask in my retirement?

My first so-called newspaper was called the Eastern Eagle which had the type hand set and printed in my garage. It was like a small shopper, but I did have an editorial in each issue. Next came the Blue Valley News, named after a section of Kansas City where I lived. This was still printed in my garage. The type all hand set of course. I worked nights at the Kansas City Star at that time, learning how a big newspaper was operated. This was suddenly ended by Uncle Sam’s call to war.

After I was drafted in the army during World War II my first assignment was at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan. I had the privilege of working on a small newspaper there. Each time I moved from post to post along with my basic training I was also connected with a newspaper. All this added to the journey of my success in life.

After I became a 2nd Lieutenant, my first assignment was public information officer for the 14th Armored Division at Ft. Smith, Ark. This, too, added to my journey to success. At this time I obtained a wife who has helped me along the way to success. During our maneuvers in Tennessee I went into Nashville every week and had our division newspaper printed in a big plant there. Before I knew it I had orders to go overseas and landed in Japan on General MacArthur’s press staff where I figured I got my college education toward my goal in life.

After 18 months in the South Pacific helping war correspondents get their stories back to their newspapers, this, too, added to my journey to success. Since Kathy had worked in the office of a war plant making airplane engines, she saved all the money I sent home. This gave us enough money to pay cash for our first weekly newspaper that we could call all our own. The Natoma Independent and the Luray Herald, for two small towns in North Central Kansas were printed in Natoma where we made our home four years. My goal wasn’t quit complete as I really wanted to have a county seat paper and by that time we had enough saved to buy one, we thought. Having sold our house and ready to move on, the newspaper we planned to buy was suddenly taken off the market.

Not too long after that though, we were able to purchase a newspaper in Mountain Grove, Mo. For some unknown reason, I had stayed in the inactive reserves after I was discharged from WW II and although I didn’t attend meetings or get any compensation, Uncle Sam called inactive reservists back to duty during the Korean War. I was forced to sell my newspaper after owning it less than a year and spent the next 17 months in the army during that war. Five months were spent in cold Korea.

My journey to success wasn’t over yet, as I was assigned as public information officer for the post at Ft. Knox, Ky. This gave me even more experience in the newspaper business. We were hurt however, by our financial loss on the Tri-County News in Mountain Grove which we had to sell too fast.

At last I finally got to own a county seat paper in Gallatin due to the kind offer of my old friend, W.M. (Scout) Harrison who offered me to a chance to eventually own his newspaper. So my journey to success was finally accomplished when I became sole owner of the Gallatin North Missourian.