A typewriter silemced - Lane Rogers

A Stodghill Says So blog:
Time ran out for a good man the other day. Lane Rogers was a writer and like most writers he didn't get rich but he lived a good life and made a lot of friends along the way. He wrote books and he wrote for newspapers and the latter job meant he was blunt and straight to the point. In the old days of hot metal and typewriters instead of computers there wasn't time to be any other way, not when you started your day with nothing but blank sheets of paper and had to fill every inch of that white space in five or six hours.
Most people would have found it an alien way of living, a pressure-cooker job where life wasn't measured in hours or days but in minutes. It didn't allow for idle moments or wasted words, not even for a please or a thank you. Those could come later when the pages were filled, the presses were running and someone in the newsroom would always say, "Well, we did it again."
Academics in their slower-paced world would sometimes say, "Oh my, he should have used 'were' instead of 'was' because they never had to pump adrenaline just to get those words on paper. No time for leisurely rewriting, looking things up or sitting back to ponder. Not when the minutes were ticking down to deadline. It was a wonderful way of life, but only for men and women without nerves or tender feelings. People who thought they were rude or lacked empathy or sympathy didn't know the nature of the job.
The majority of those I worked with have made their final deadline and now Lane Rogers has joined them. None were the sort of people who appreciated compliments because their praise came in a weekly paycheck. As long as those kept coming it meant they were doing OK. I'm sure, though, that none of them would mind hearing, "Good job." So good job, Lane.

This very saddening.

Good job, Lane.

Ann

Good Job, Lane and Thank you, Dick.


This is a much improved tribute--you are a writer--I am a great mourner.

Well said Dick. Lane will be missed.
Vickie

Lane did great and Dick's post sets it down the way it was.

Malcolm

As always, Dick's turn of the word can bring a tear before I'm past the first few lines. Thank you, Dick, for saying so much in so few words. My understanding is enriched through your description of a world I only glimpsed in movies and knew it was "just movies." I am still shocked; I can't believe Lane's words are no longer ours.

Thank you, Dick! Lane has been, is, and always be missed.

DK, pass the kleenexes please.

What a tragedy. He was so young and talented, so good job, Lane.

Dick,

Patricia was very appreciative of this tribute to Lane. I passed it on to her. You did a very good job--Thanks!

Your friend,

Alice