Last week, Main Street Media sold the remaining newspapers of our Missouri division.

My association with Missouri newspapers goes back over 50 years to when a young high school kid walked into the Albany Ledger and started learning what it took to be a small-town newspaper guy.

My connection with all four newspapers goes back a long time and with plenty of wonderful memories, including working along many, many awesome people both past and present.

I’ll give particular attention to The Carrollton Democrat. That’s where I had my first fulltime job out of college, starting Jan. 2, 1980. I lived in a studio apartment above the front of Faulk’s Quality Market, which years later became the Democrat’s home.

My wife of 44-plus years, Miss Elaine, is a Carrollton native and we raised both of our kids there.

I had gone to work at the daily in nearby Marshall when I first met and became friends with Jack Krier, who brought me aboard what would eventually become MSM.

So, sure, I have a lot of history with those Missouri papers, and it wasn’t an easy choice to let go. Making that decision easier was the knowledge that the new owners of all four publications share MSM’s long-held belief that newspapers are vital to the towns they call home. So, here’s wishing them a good, long run of success.