A huge mysterious brown box appeared this afternoon in our Tucson garage, apparently dumped there by the UPS guy without fanfare or notice.It came from Steve Messick, publisher of the Red Wing Republican Eagle and ramrod of the web plant where Stan's newspapers have been printed and processed for the past decade. Steve's a good fishing buddy and valued confidant. Turns out he's also more thoughtful and sweet than the crusty image he has carefully refined.
The package contained the original aluminum plate used to print one edition of Stan's retirement news story. Steve had remembered to rescue it from the recyle bin, then frame and ship it to Arizona, along with a cheerful, heartfelt greeting.
The gift took the new retiree off guard, as he stood in the garage, unable to speak for a moment; Kathleen was not surprised by the kindness, she's always thought of Steve as a class act.
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(Here's a link to the text of the retirement story on the plaque, above.)
