‘A smashing success’

Former and current Register-Guard journalists from the past six decades came together last month to celebrate the newspaper’s ‘Golden Era’

The first-ever — and likely only — gathering of journalists who worked for The Register-Guard during its final 60 years of ownership by the Alton F. Baker Sr. family has now receded into the sunset.

The June 29^th reunion of nearly 140 people with connections to what was dubbed the newspaper’s “Golden Era” was held in the lobby of the former Register-Guard offices on Chad Drive in northeast Eugene.

Work on the reunion was begun more than four years earlier by a small committee of former R-G news employees and their spouses. The original May 2020 planned date had to be scuttled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Lane County.

Committee members renewed their efforts for a 2024 relaunch late last year and by all accounts from those who attended last month’s event, it was a smashing success.

A huge, huge cheer to you all for pulling off a remarkably fun, warm, happy and emotion-overflowing reunion. It was an honor and privilege to be there. Many, many thanks. What a paper we all managed to put out, one that became recognized as among the very best community newspapers in America. All the best to you. This is an event I will always cherish. — Barrie Hartman (Colorado, 1965-1982)

I’m still lost in a delightful time warp. — Larry May (Wisconsin, 1983-1988)

It was an enjoyable and meaningful four hours. I was reminded of how smart, funny, and good my compeers at The R-G were. My four years there launched me in an unexpected career direction, but everything I learned and everyone I knew played a part in my future—in a decidedly positive way. It was fascinating to see the many different directions that others took in their lives. Each one of us, I think, was launched via those golden years. — Collins Hemingway (Redmond, 1976-1980)

Thanks for all your work to put on the reunion. It was a smashing success, IMHO. — Kathy Kucera Bremner (Washington, 1970-77)

Thanks so much to each of you for making the reunion happen. During the 16 years of my second career, working for the OSU Alumni Association, I saw what a heavy lift it can be to put on one of these things. Your work is much appreciated! — Kevin Miller (Eugene, 1983-2005)

The reunion was four hours of joy, and I’m grateful to you, your spouses and others who did the work to put it together. I construed that it was exhausting for all of you at times, and the flawless results were surely worthy recompense. I came to the event with a list of 15 names in my pocket, people with whom I wanted to connect and share a recollection. I didn’t scan or even think about the list until about 4 p.m. when, pulling it out of my pocket, I saw that I’d connected with each of them. — Jim Sellers (Salem, 1969-1983)

I will always remember the reunion, which was more than 12 kinds of fabulous. — Jim Thalman (Utah, 1986-1994)

Boy, from the perfectly placed “This way” signs in the parking lot to the farewell book [“From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker,” 2016] at the door, what a beautiful reunion you pulled together. As the huge turnout showed, you all had a great idea to celebrate what the Baker family and staff built together, one deadline at a time. Thank you for giving us the chance to reconnect. I’m honored to have been part of two years of the RG’s golden era. — Janet Filips (Eugene, 1999-2001)

Jacqui Banaszynski (Washington, 1978-1981), 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner for Feature Writing [“AIDS in the Heartland”], set the tone for the reunion in remarks she prefaced in a Nieman Storyboard column the day before the event.

On Wednesday, Banaszynski re-posted the column with these introductory comments:

“This past weekend, I attended a ‘golden era’ reunion of newsroom staffers from The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon. Fourteen hours of driving, much of it in gridlock freeway traffic, for four hours of catch-up with people I worked with 45 years ago.”

In her June 28 column, Banaszynski wrote, in part:

“I don’t like to dwell on the rear-view reality of having reached a golden era. The invitations might as well have said ‘old-timers.’ Yet there is no question that my time in Eugene was golden, in both my personal life and in the profession of journalism.

“I spent three years at the Guard, then moved back to Minnesota to a much bigger newsroom. But the Guard years left an imprint that defines me to this day.

“The Register-Guard is where all my professional learning and yearning crystallized into the journalist I wanted to be.

“The Guard is where I learned that the mission of journalism starts and ends with service to a community. Where that service is not defined by the size of a community or the size of a masthead, but by the relationship between citizens of a democracy and the independence of journalism.

“If this all sounds like noble idealism, I’m grateful to say it was. I’m also proud to say any ideals we achieved were because we worked, hard and long, with a foundation not only of purpose — but of joy.

“It’s not that all my joy came from the work. That’s also the time in my life when I first waded into the clear waters of the Pacific, stood under trees so tall they dizzied, camped on a snowy mountain slope, tasted artichoke and avocado and King crab. It’s where I lost a car to the ash of Mount St. Helens, trailed firefighters deep into smoldering forests, learned to breathe deeply enough to run a marathon, and made friends who became family.”

Eugene Weekly sent a reporter, Bentley Freeman, to Saturday’s reunion and his story Remembering The Old Guard was posted July 3^rd.

Some excerpts:

“All the way from Dean Rea — who started working as a reporter in 1957 and held several editorial positions while there — to Hannarose McGuiness — who started covering growth and development at the paper after graduating from the University of Oregon in 2023 — people showed up and styled out to celebrate such a storied paper.”

“I remember just being in this organization, where I was surrounded by people who bristled with talent and confidence and the good fortune of having managers who gave us our head a bit and let us pursue things and the talented people rose to the occasion.” — Mike Thoele (Cheshire, 1969-1993)

“It was great to connect with one-time fellow reporters. Aside from a few wrinkles and gray hair, they’re the same journalists we worked and partied with in the late 1970s.”  — Don Mack (Eugene, 1970-1980, 1991-2010)

And, finally, Banaszynski: “There were no prima donnas. There were certainly quirky personalities, of course. But everybody was like, ‘sit down and do your job.’ I try to honor the qualities I learned here everyday, which are qualities of professionalism, of humanity, of commitment to the communities we serve. When you move through life, there are some places that are fleeting, some people who are fleeting, and then there are places with people who imprint on you. And the Guard is a place and it was full of people that imprinted on me.”

— Lloyd Paseman