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Letter to the Editor - To the family of Paul Struck

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To the family of Paul Struck,

 

I was thinking about Paul and how I knew him, when one of my favorite expressions came into my mind: WORDS MATTER. Spoken or written words have a huge impact on people and their lives. Words can educate and inform us, influence the way we think about things, lift our self esteem, make us proud of our accomplishments, and so on. Paul’s words did that, and it mattered to our community.

 

Many years ago when I was working at Judy’s Hallmark in downtown Cherokee, Paul’s mother, Mrs. Helen Struck, came into the store. I expressed to her how much I enjoyed reading Paul’s articles in the newspaper, and they were always the first part of the paper I read. Mrs. Struck told me that when Paul was in high school, his teachers told her she definitely needed to encourage Paul to go to college because he was such a great writer. They were correct, he certainly was.

 

Paul had really honed his skill and talents when writing for our local newspaper. His style could be witty and humorous or thought provoking. I always told my students that music and poetry were two of the best genres to express themselves. Paul would sometimes take the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song, or the lines from a Robert Frost poem and weave them into his editorials or opinions to make them interesting and entertaining. I loved that.

 

Some of Paul’s opinion pieces were not always the opinion of a few of his readers, and he would get a rebuttal from a reader. Sometimes they might even foolishly make a comment about his spelling or grammar as well. I really like Paul enjoyed getting a rebuttal every once in awhile. That gave him the opportunity to reiterate his opinion, plus correct the disagreeing reader’s grammar or punctuation. I don’t feel Paul was adverse to the reader’s difference opinion, but upset because they had criticized his writing skills. That was a huge mistake because Paul had terrific grammar and writing skills, plus he also had a large vocabulary and used “big”, intelligent words. 

 

Paul informed us and gave praise to all the good things happening in our community. He wrote complimentary columns about our Citizen of the Year, new businesses in our town, schools and their programs, parade Marshalls, Sanford Museum, Tomahawk Relays and so many other happenings.

 

Paul’s sports articles were so important to our town, as well as our surrounding communities. My husband, Larry, was always so pleased with the write up’s Paul did for the middle school athletes. Often, the younger athletes were not recognized or praised for their accomplishments as much as the high school. That was not the situation in Cherokee with Paul reporting the events. It meant so much to the younger athletes and their coaches. They appreciated seeing nice things written about them and their hard work.

 

Last weekend we were talking to our son, Garth, about Paul. Garth quickly mentioned that the title of Paul’s sports column, “Struck Strikes Out,” was even so unique; a pun or play on word that could have different interpretations. Our daughter, Kelsey, is an English teacher who often made complimentary comments about Paul’s writings. Paul was definitely unique with a style all his own.

 

Words did matter to Paul, and his words mattered to us. Paul mattered to us. We were so fortunate to have such a prolific writer in our small town. You could tell by Paul’s writings that he loved our community. He helped us realize all the wonderful things about our town and the great people living in it.

 

I remember the last time I saw and talked to Paul. He was standing at the meat counter in Faraway. At that time, he was still writing for the newspaper even though his health was not too good. I approached him to say hello, and we had a short conversation. I told him I had liked his latest opinion columns. I regret I didn’t say more. I should have told him about how long I had enjoyed his writing skill and talents. But I, like many people, failed to say words of praise that needed to be said. In my heart, I would like to think he knew how I felt and admired his writing.

 

Larry and I were fortunate to have had a small part in the educations of Paul’s children: Adam, Abby, Alex, and Alisanne. One of Paul’s great accomplishments was doing his part as a father to help raise them to be fine adults. I know he was proud of them.

 

May God bless all of you and I pray that God gives your family the strength and courage it needs at this difficult time. May Paul now write for the angels.

 

With love,

 

Joyce Goodrich

Cherokee, Iowa

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