It's time to call it a day,
after 63 special years

By WILLIAM J. TOBIN

THIS IS THE LAST EDITION OF A weekly column that has appeared in The Anchorage Times and The Voice of The Times for 45 years. And Friday will mark the close of a 63-year career in journalism that began in Indianapolis in 1945 and continued in Associated Press assignments there, in New York, in Louisville, in Juneau, in Baltimore, and in Helena, Mont. After almost 18 years with the AP, the last move along this journalistic trail was back to Alaska on a permanent basis joining the Times in April 1963. And now it ends. Call it retirement. Or maybe it's better to call it a moment whose time has come.

Tobin

OVER THOSE YEARS it has been my privilege to serve with a host of talented men and women. I have covered as a reporter some of the biggest national stories of the day. As a bureau chief and as an editor I have directed the coverage of major events that made headlines the world over. Outside the newsroom, I have had the opportunity to serve on dozens of community boards and agencies, and worked with wonderful volunteers in hopes of making Anchorage a better place to live and work.

ALONG THE WAY, MY WIFE, Marge, and I have watched a territory become a state, a town become a city. We have helped guide three great sons into manhood, and welcomed daughters-in-law and grandchildren into the family. They are more important . . .

(cont'd from front page) than any by-lines and headlines ever could be. We embraced treasured friends, and we have had to say farewell to all too many of them as the years have rolled by.

IT WILL BE DIFFICULT, I SUSPECT, not to be writing again. In the past there have been countless stories and headlines written, and countless front pages laid out, and several thousand editorials prepared that discussed the issues of the day. And as for these columns, there have been 2,350 of them, counting today and maybe a few others that may have been missed in adding up the numbers. They began under the heading of Saturday Sundry in the old Times, appearing from July 1963 until June 1992, when the Times was sold and ceased publication. Since then they have been a regular Sunday feature in the Voice of The Times, for 15 years on the op-ed page of the Anchorage Daily News and since June 1, 2007, in this Internet version of our editorial offerings. That's 4 1/2 decades of weekly columns. That's a lot of words. Call the total 2,143,119, and you're somewhere close.

SO HOW TO SAY GOODBYE? WELL, by simply saying thanks for the memories of Saturdays now gone by, and of Sunday morning visits when time just seemed to fly. Thanks for memories that are measured by the ton, memories made by readers who turned this way to enjoy items about friends and neighbors doing good things for our town and our state, by readers who viewed with kindness the many columns of serious commentary, by readers who said they liked the 165 columns that reported on travels around the nation and around the world, by readers who said they appreciated tips on places to eat and shop on these trips to other cities, states and countries, by readers who laughed at all the dreadful puns that came along from time to time, and by those who said they appreciated the annual Christmas tree every Yuletide and the Prayer of St. Francis that ended many of those columns.

FOR ME, IT HAS been a fun time, a good time for all of those Saturdays and all of these Sundays. Thank you again, in more ways than I can express. God bless you all.

William J. Tobin is senior editor of The Anchorage Times.

A message from Bill's family

For longtime readers and followers of Bill's writing through the years it will come as no surprise that he has never been one to promote himself. So with that in mind, we, his family, are taking this opportunity to catch all up to speed on what has been happening behind the scenes in recent weeks.

The comments you posted on the Voice of the Times wishing to see his writing continue and expressing the desire that the Voice remain vibrant have been warmly received by him. However, after 45 years of putting on a great fight for the city and the state he so dearly loves, Bill now is having to tackle a whole new challenge: We are sorry to report that he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and will be beginning chemo-radiation treatment this coming week.

While there are no set plans at this time, there is still a desire to make available his prior columns rich with the history of Alaska and her people and provide an outlet for potential future endeavors. Toward this end we have registered and have the beginnings of www.saturdaysundry.com up and running.

And for those who wish to track his progress as he fights the new frontier, updates can be found at www.thestatus.com (patient name: Tobin; password: saturdaysundry1).

On Bill's behalf, we would like to thank all the longtime and faithful readers of his through the decades.

God bless.

Marge, Mike, David and Jim