Four Stalwarts Retire From Post-Dispatch

From hot lead to computers; from a p.m. newspaper to an a.m.; from Pulitzer ownership to Lee Enterprises, four veterans who have written and edited for a total of 135 years, recently walked out of the Post-Dispatch for the last time. It was a big loss of talent, experience and institutional memory.

They are: Phil Sutin, John Duxbury Ron Cobb and Joan McKenna.

Phil Sutin started his 45-year tour after his work at The University of Michigan gained him a P-D internship. He worked as general assignment reporter, in zones and the east side. After a session at University of California at Berkeley, in the early ‘70s, focusing on urban studies, he returned and tackled regional issues, city hall, county government, transportation, and the Clayton Bureau. He filled in as the metro-desk editor in the late 1990s and early 2000s; and his slot as regular Saturday night desk editor lasted until his retirement.

Some stories Sutin worked on: analyzing the area’s fragmented governments, covering the saga of the Admiral entertainment boat, editing more than 20 voters’ guides, and having the lead story on his last day. A blue turtleneck was his trademark and he’s probably had more bylines than any other Post reporter. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley honored him by naming May 31 as Phil Sutin Day. In retirement, he plans on helping his wife Kathy with her website, St. Louis On The Cheap.

John Duxbury, called “Dux” by his sports-department colleagues, worked four years at The Sporting News before being hired in 1969 by the late Bob Broeg, then the Post’s sports editor. He is unassuming but was highly valued over his 42 years because of his bedrock knowledge of sports knowledge and his good humor.

Dux missed only one day of work. Among dozens of colleagues he recalls working with — Rick Hummel, who was selected for the Baseball Writers Hall Of Fame, and Neal Russo, a baseball writer whose weird antics included shoe polish on his hair to keep it black. Dux’s work included hundreds of rewrites, handling agate copy of league standings, box scores, a dizzying array of facts and stats, and maintaining a library of college catalogs and history sources on sagging shelves, collections from the old days

to shore up the present.

He still belongs to the Baseball Writers Association of America, so lots of Cardinal games and watching sports on TV are on his retirement schedule.

Ron Cobb came to the Post as a sports copy editor 31 years ago but three years later found himself on the Blues hockey beat. He covered other sports as well, including Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers winning the first of five Stanley Cups in 1984. He saw Jack Clark hit the pennant-winning homer in Dodger Stadium in 1985. He wrote a speech for tennis great Arthur Ashe, which Ashe delivered at the St. Louis Tennis Hall of fame induction ceremony a year before he died of AIDS. Cobb, a top-rated local amateur tennis player, even traded lobs with Rod Laver at Forest Park.

Cobb transferred to features for the next 16 years. He served an eight-year stint as travel editor and wrote about places he visited around the country and things he did – snowmobiling, hiking, dog sledding and golfing.“This was my job,” he kept telling himself amid the fun. In retirement, he has no travel plans but will work sprucing up his house and playing “a lot of golf without getting bored.”

Joan McKenna started at the Post in 1994 as a free-lancer covering local governments. She got on the features department, worked on the Calendar section, Get Out and whatever else came down the pike. Then it was the copy desk and finally into design, where she worked for 13 years. Among her memories is this story:

On a Monday night in October 2000, a plane crashed in thick, foggy weather. The night editor told McKenna they needed a small, 4-inch wire story. Word then came that the plane was owned by the son of Gov. Mel Carnahan and he often flew his dad to campaign events, No one spoke, but they knew. Volunteers filled the newsroom to pitch in where needed — editing copy for an obit, answering phones; taking dictation. At a furious pace they worked to get it all, get it right. Afterward, driving home, McKenna remembers trying to take it all in — as a part of the world that informs the rest of the world.

She plans to stay in writing and editing, hone her programming skills and be a Facebook blogger for a non-profit group.

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