It’s a job you ought to do every 25 years or so, just for the heck of it, and it fell to me last week.
I cleaned out my desk at the Leader, after accumulating this, that and the other thing inside of and on top of my desk since 1994, when Leader Publications was born.
It was a chore, and not just for the heck of it.
Having reached a significant birthday and having realized that full-time demanding work doesn’t jibe well with being quality grandparents or allowing much freedom in general, the Besses are pulling back from day-to-day operations at the Leader.
Thus, we’re handing off a significant portion of our duties here. Lucky for us, we have stellar people to hand off to.
You’ll notice some changes in the staff box in the far right column of this page. (And, no, that doesn’t mean the Leader will suddenly adopt a far-right persona, or far-left, either, for that matter.)
It just means, dear readers, that you will have new editors to interact with as they keep the paper in its favorite lane – independent – unaligned with any political party.
Until now, my trajectory at the Leader was upward – from reporter, to news editor, to managing editor to editor. This is my first demotion.
I am joining husband Gordon at the rank of associate editor. After holding down the demanding job of sports editor for six years, he switched to part-time work four years ago, and swears his wife will really be OK with this major life change. Deep breaths.
The new top-of-the-list newsroom leaders at the Leader will be Kim Robertson as editor and Steve Taylor as Editorial Page editor.
If you’ve had much to do with the Leader in its quarter-century history, you’ll already be aware of this pair. Their contributions over the years have been crucial and they are well prepared to step up.
I asked both of them to give me a bio so I wouldn’t cross any lines in my column. But I can’t help sharing some personal observations.
Kim, the consummate professional, has organized a major fundraiser for the C-6 Educational Foundation for several years running, has the office’s best giggle, and possesses a biting sense of humor that every now and again jumps out and bites you.
Steve, who knows, hilariously, how not to talk like a pirate, is a walking encyclopedia for arcane musical information from the 20th century, and once played secret Santa, along with his whole family, for a young person within the Leader network who was going through a rough patch.
Now to the information they authorized:
Steve is a longtime Festus resident who grew up on St. Louis’ South Side (Cleveland High School graduate). He and his wife, Pam, will celebrate their 28th anniversary next month. They have two children in college.
He earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1981, and came to the Leader in 2005 after working at the Suburban Journals in sports and news editing and then organizing the St. Louis Post-Dispatch voters guide.
Steve now serves as the Leader’s county beat reporter and is news and community editor, after first covering an array of governmental beats.
He spends part of his free time photographically documenting and helping with trivia nights for the Festus High band and theater programs.
Kim grew up in the Arnold area and is a Fox High School graduate. She lives in Imperial with her husband of nearly 40 years, Steve. They have one adult son.
She earned an associate degree from Jefferson College and a bachelor’s degree in English literature and language, with an emphasis in creative writing and certification to teach secondary language arts, from Webster University. She also earned two master’s degrees – one in English with an emphasis in teaching composition and the other in education as a reading specialist – from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Kim taught composition and literature courses at the college level for about 10 years, some of that at Jefferson College.
She began her career in journalism at the Leader, first writing movie reviews and becoming a full-time reporter in 1999. For the next several years, she covered the city of Arnold and the Fox C-6 School District, as well as other beats in northern Jefferson County.
She was promoted to the editor of the Arnold-Imperial paper and then later Leader managing editor. She also is the Leader website editor.
In her spare time (what there is of it), Kim enjoys watching movies and TV, reading, cooking and lounging at the pool.
In their new roles, Kim and Steve together will guide the Leader into the future, while keeping up with their current duties. It’s a tall order, but I expect them to soar.
Gordon and I aren’t riding into the sunset. We love this place and our readers too much to really leave.
He will continue to do reporting, copy editing and writing columns. I’ll also continue as a columnist and help edit letters to the editor. Both of us will remain on the Leader’s management team.
But much of our work will be off-site and we will no longer be at our desks during Leader deadline days.
Come next Monday morning, I won’t need an alarm clock. But I might need a box of Kleenex.
