Memories of Stephen Gay

"Can you sell?" Henry Gay asked.

"Yes," I answered.

That was my job interview. The work-wanted ad I ran to find a new job in my field had succeeded. Barb Nelson, Gay's retired ad manager of 40 years, had set everything up. That day, I said I could see myself working here for that long. Little did I know that 30 years later I would be just 10 years away from 40 years.

When I started at the Shelton-Mason County Journal in mid-August 1992, Stephen Gay was the pressroom manager. His dad, Henry, ran the paper as owner/publisher. Stephen's brother Charlie was the editor and sister Julie was the offi...