As the world prepares to mark the end of a year and the beginning of another, we at the Cooperstown Crier will mark the end of an era – the end of the Atwell era.
Fly Creek columnist Jim Atwell has been writing for the Crier since shortly after its birth in 1994. He quickly became and has continued to be one of the most popular features of the paper. His final regular column appears in this week’s edition, but many of you probably already know that because it is where you turn first when the Crier arrives in your home.
Jim has adroitly provided us with his view of the world from Fly Creek and has, over the years, touched on wide-ranging subjects from the colorful characters who inhabit his environs, world and local events and some often-humorous misadventures encountered on the highway of life.
His columns are not always humorous – many have offered some thought-provoking examinations of the world for us to ponder while waiting for the arrival of his next column.
From an editor’s viewpoint, his columns were nothing short of spectacular. They came from a writer who would labor over a single word to make sure it relayed exactly the meaning he wanted. The numerous awards from the New York Press Association stand in testament to the quality of his writing.
By now, his readers know he is dealing with the ravages of Parkinson’s. He has shared with us the changes and challenges it has presented in his life. Some time ago, he cut back his column to every other week, but now the time we knew would eventually come has arrived.
Jim not only has the day-to-day life with Parkinson’s with which to deal, but he also has other projects he would like to see finished. As much as we will miss his column, we can certainly understand why the time has come to call a halt.
The one bright spot is that he has asked if it would be all right if he periodically brought us another of his columns. We enthusiastically replied, yes, of course.
We will miss Jim’s column as we know many of you will also and hope you will join us in wishing him all the best in the future.
