As we were sitting around a table at the Peach House Restaurant Tuesday for the traditional good-bye luncheon The Free Press holds for departing employees, a colleague asked me what I liked most about Kinston.
“The people,” I quickly answered.
I wholeheartedly believe Kinston’s people are its biggest asset. As a Baltimore native, I had traveled through the South a great deal and had some familiarity with North Carolina through visits to Asheville and Greensboro, but I knew next to nothing about Kinston or Eastern North Carolina when I came for my job interview in early May of 2007.
It became clear very quickly that “Southern hospitality” is not just a phrase — it is an ethos which is practiced as strongly as any religious faith in this Bible Belt community.
Free Press staffers native to Eastern N.C. such as Patrick Holmes, Nancy Saunders, Janet Sutton Carter and Donna Wallace immediately made me feel at home — the hospitality had even rubbed off on then-City Editor Charlie Kraebel, a native of Upstate New York.
What solidified the desire to come to Kinston was a visit that evening to a 30th-anniversary showing of Chief Photographer Charles Buchanan’s work at the Community Council for the Arts.
Charles was incredibly friendly and gracious to me at the show, and it was always great to go out on stories with him and reminisce about the bygone days of The Free Press.
He was one of the most talented photographers I have worked with in my nine-year career in the news business, and our little family was rocked to the bone when he passed away last March.
I have taken a number of my own photographs for stories over the years — with mixed results — but it meant a lot early on in my time at The Free Press when I took a picture which later ran on the front page, and Charles told me he was proud of me.
He is one of many people I have been blessed to work with and know over the years, and have since passed away, including my dear friends from the Temple Israel congregation, Esther Goldwasser, Irving Gross and Harriet Chused, Kinston’s former first lady, MaryMac Ritch, downtown businessman and Vietnam War veteran Ted Sampley, state legislator William L. Wainwright and more.
I have also had the unfortunate duty of going to homicide scenes, or visiting the grieving families of several homicide victims, who were in their late teens or early 20s in most cases, including Rodriguez “Drek” Edmondson, 29, Rasheed Jones, 17, and Thomas Hinton, 31.
I cannot imagine what these families are still going through, and I hope God will grant you peace.
My heart also goes out to the families of two law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in the Kinston area — Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office Det. Rickie Allen Pearson Jr. and Nash County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Warren “Sneak” Lewis.
Lewis was part of a U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force sent to apprehend Hinton’s suspected killers.
I have also watched colleagues go through the early cycles of life. I’ve seen coworkers Janet Sutton Carter and Ryan Herman get married and have their first children — I have been around long enough to see Janet’s little girl start walking!
So much can happen in five-and-a-half years. I have been in Kinston through three North Carolina governors, two U.S. presidents, two Kinston mayors, three Kinston city managers, seen one of N.C.’s U.S. Senate seats change hands, seen the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners and Kinston City Council change its composition several times, 11 election cycles — primary and general — as well as a tornado, earthquake and hurricane.
It has been an amazing experience working in Kinston, and I will carry all of you with me as I head to my hometown to work with The Baltimore Sun Media Group.
There are a lot of good things happening in Kinston, and I wish its residents all the luck in the world.
I am eternally grateful to the officials, business and civic leaders and residents of Kinston, Lenoir County, Pink Hill, La Grange and Greene and Jones counties who I have worked with over the years. You have been a pleasure to work with, and I have always strived to be fair and accurate.
To my editor and friend, Bryan Hanks, thank you for guidance, friendship and patience; to my “work mom,” Assistant Managing Editor Nancy Saunders, thank you for your warmth and kindness; to my editor and publisher Patrick Homes, thank you for taking me in and making me a part of The Free Press family.
To my photo colleagues, Janet Sutton Carter, Zach Frailey and Casey Mozingo, you guys are awesome friends and coworkers, and incredibly talented photogs — remember everything Charles taught you.
Finally, to my fellow reporters, Margaret Fisher, Wes Wolfe and Jessika Morgan, I know you guys are all still new to The Free Press, but you are all incredibly smart and talented and you will do great.
Just remember: strive for fairness and accuracy, don’t bring any preconceived notions to a story, and know that every person has a story to tell.
Good luck and Godspeed!
David Anderson worked at The Free Press since May 29, 2007and covered a variety of beats in his tenure. You can reach him at oriole_25@hotmail.com.