Years ago, when I first joined The Star-News, I was asked to attend a community meeting and introduce myself.
Despite evidence to the contrary, I dislike talking about me. I declined the invitation. Too busy, not settled in yet and I may be sick that day were probably among the reasons I gave for missing the meet-up.
Where some enthusiastic people might pester a guest into eventual acquiescence, bludgeoning them with guilt and repeated exhortations, Susan Watry niced me into going.
A brief chat on the phone with her revealed she thought it would be good for people to know the new editor but accepted that I didn’t feel comfortable among large groups of people. She understood my reluctance. She cheerfully told me the invitation stood and the door was always open.
You’ve probably already guessed I went to the meeting. And while I don’t remember even the slightest detail how the morning went, I do recall meeting Susan and how she left me feeling delighted I attended. She was so … cheerful.
Susan and I did not become friends. I never learned anything about her other than she was Mrs. Watry, wife of Peter, and a member of a community group that cared about the direction this growing city was headed — cared enough to be civically engaged, write the occasional letter to the editor and be a thorn in the side of elected and other government officials.
Susan died this week. I did not know her well. At best we were passing acquaintances momentarily thrust together by cosmic circumstances that put us in the same place at the same time. It was a brief encounter with a cheerful person that left me feeling good.
But it is that feeling that I have carried and will carry as the seconds keep ticking. It is a warmth that sustains me as I recall others who have enriched my life because of their concern and involvement in civic activity and discourse.
Susan Watry, like Ted Kennedy and David Danciu, were of a generation that believed to create change you had to be involved in your community and often that included voicing your opinion in the local paper, this paper.
Occasionally I would be chastised by a council member, mayor or Chamber of Commerce apologist for printing their letters every week. They did not like being second-guessed or criticized in public.
I corrected them. I did not print their letters every week; I printed them whenever they sent them because they cared enough to write in. Invitations to the establishment to submit a rebuttal were often met with promises of doing so but were frequently left unfulfilled. Susan, Ted and David, on the other hand, always came through.
Illness and death took these voices not just from the pages of The Star-News but from the community. They have left behind an unwelcome silence. But good feelings nonetheless.
