When I first started working at your local newspaper, the Jordan Independent, I found prominent Jordanite Keith Thaves to be particularly encouraging to me, as an editor. He was a former publisher and editor of the paper, which he purchased in 1957.

During the past couple of days, I've been working on a story about the death of Thaves. He had suffered two heart attacks since September. He was married to Liz and had three children, Alisa, Jeff, and Chris. The story will be published in the Feb. 7 print edition.