Cooperative Living July 2020 - 4

ViewPoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 74, No. 7
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor Emeritus (2005-2020)
STEVEN JOHNSON
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
JOHN GROTT
Production Coordinator
JIM ROBERTSON
Creative Services Specialist
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
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contact your electric cooperative.
For nonsubscription inquiries, contact
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Published by the VA, MD & DE
Association of Electric Cooperatives
FLETCHER B. JONES
Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Vice Chair
RUSSELL G. BROWN
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson
Jr., A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC;
George N. Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E.
Arnold, Micheal E. Malandro, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett,
Steven A. Harmon, Community; James E. Huffman, Jeff
M. Ahearn, Craig-Botetourt; Patricia S. Dorey, J. William
Andrew, Delaware; Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee Jr.,
Mecklenburg; Russell G. Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck;
Wade C. House, Stan C. Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale
McNiel, Randell Meyers, Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick,
Casey J. Logan, Prince George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer,
Rappahannock; Larry C. Howdyshell, Greg Rogers, Shenandoah
Valley; Frank W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
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they are asked to inform the Editor.
A Master Storyteller
This magazine lost an exceptional editor - and
countless folks across the mid-Atlantic lost a wonderful
friend - with the recent passing of Bill Sherrod
W
hat first drew my attention was
his eye for detail ... his curiosity ...
his knack for turning a mundane
event into a great story.
Back in the summer of 1994, I was looking
to hire a journalist. In that pre-digital age,
I collected a tall stack of resumes. There were
overblown resumes. Underwhelming resumes.
Resumes rife with typos. Resumes way too
long or too brief. But none just right.
But in going through the stack again ...
there it was. A resume I had missed earlier.
It was well-written. With solid
credentials. Most interestingly, the
attached writing sample was a story
about ... a lost shoe.
Yes, a lost shoe. A shoe by the side
of the road outside Appomattox, Va.,
where this applicant was editor of the
weekly paper. Now, with his parents
aging, he wanted to return home to
Richmond, to take care of them.
Between the lost-shoe story and the honorable
relocation motive, I was intrigued.
After the job interview, I was sold. On Bill
Sherrod. And over the next quarter-century,
Bill would prove to be much more than
a rock-solid journalist. He would become a
valued colleague. A close friend. And as fine
a person as I've ever known.
Sadly, Bill passed away last month at 65,
after a brave, unflagging defiance of an
unrelenting disease, pancreatic cancer. From
the diagnosis in spring 2019 till his passing -
under the loving care of Nancy, whom Bill
called " my angel " - he faithfully followed
three maxims: Stay positive; take one day at
a time; and most importantly, keep the faith.
When Bill was recently awarded the Electric
Cooperative Distinguished Service Award,
weakened by the disease but standing tall, he
accepted it by saying, " I feel like I'm the lucky
one. " Truth is, those of us privileged to know
Bill were the lucky ones.
Bill relished covering the heroism of The
Greatest Generation. During his 26-year career
with Cooperative Living, he wrote about World
War II officers and infantrymen, sailors and
Marines, and Army Air Forces pilots and crewmen.
2
Bill was also an outdoorsman whose passions
were fishing and writing about fishing. On
weekends, he would float leisurely down
the Staunton River in his small boat, or fish
from the banks of the modest lake behind his
home near Richmond. For Bill, the fish were
secondary; the real catch was in the experience
of being in the great outdoors on a beautiful
day, with a blue sky, a gentle breeze and a
warm sun blessing it all.
A proud graduate of Randolph-Macon
College, Bill was an English major who enjoyed
music and movies and, of course,
literature. Two of his favorite books
were Tom Wolfe's " The Right Stuff "
and Joseph Heller's " Catch-22. " Bill
loved the humor of Heller's novel, the
heroism of Wolfe's. More than anything,
Bill loved a tale well-told.
His own work in Cooperative Living
was honored over the years with
numerous writing awards. His plaques
would end up behind a row of books on his
shelf, as a holder for his ball cap, or inside a
drawer. The only award he truly coveted was
a letter, an email or, best of all, a phone call
from a reader. Whether complimentary or
critical, Bill treated every reader with respect.
Another favorite pastime was going to a
public place - a mall, a museum, a park -
and just sitting and watching people, in all
their idiosyncratic glory. Bill loved people,
and everyone loved Bill. And every day, Bill
celebrated life; life in general, his own life,
and that of those around him.
Still wondering about the lost shoe? In
publishing the story, Bill found the owner.
A mother recognized it as the shoe her young
son had thrown out the window of their speeding
car. Bill, of course, squeezed a follow-up story
from this, with photo, showing the lost shoe,
now lost no more.
The late Theodor Geisel, better known as
Dr. Seuss, wrote, " Don't cry because it's over,
smile because it happened. " Through his stories
of everyday lives, mundane events and simple
pleasures, Bill Sherrod not only proved to be
a master storyteller ... he made us smile with
him, all along the way. ■
co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2020

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