He was a Fresno Bee mentor even though we never met nor worked together | Opinion

Donald Slinkard and I never worked together. Nor do I believe we ever met in person. Yet when I read that Slinkard had recently died, a few days shy of his 98th birthday, the news hit me like a body punch from Jose Ramirez.

My thoughts and feelings and ruminations while seated at the computer screen, fingers tapping the keyboard immersed in writing these missives, won’t be the same.

Slinkard retired as The Fresno Bee’s managing editor in 1990, eight years before I arrived in the newsroom as a lowly copy editor. A journalism job that, sadly, no longer exists.

Even though we didn’t cross paths in real life, Don and I were well-acquainted via email. After reading Slinkard’s self-penned obituary (which should tell you something about his personality), I typed his name into my Google Mail search bar and came back with about 30 of his messages since 2013.

Which happens to be the first year I started writing columns for The Bee. First mainly about sports and since 2017 about, well, lots of things.

Opinion

If you’ve made it this far, here’s a little insight into my process. I try to approach each column as if they’re an ongoing conversation with the reader. We’re spending a couple minutes together, and I’m doing most of the talking.

Except the reader I’m conversing with while composing thoughts and reworking clumsy sentences is nameless and faceless. They have to be. Otherwise, the number of names and faces flashing through my mind would be overwhelming. So while sitting at the keyboard, I’m not really thinking about how my words will be scrutinized by any particular person.

Slinkard, even though we never actually met, was the exception.

I knew The Bee’s retired managing editor would be reading every column. I wanted each to meet his standard.

For context it helps to know that managing editors, in traditional newspapers, are the second-in-command to the more glamorous position of executive editor. They’re the people who actually supervise the newsroom’s day-to-day operations, generally act as its glue and serve as the toughest set of eyes.

Slinkard, according to everything I’ve heard, was a terrific editor and a true journalist. Colleagues whose careers overlapped with his speak of him with reverence.

“You could hand him anything, and he would make it better,” said Gail Marshall, the former Bee opinion page editor and reporter.

Frequent letter writer & emailer

Post retirement, Slinkard penned numerous op-eds and letters to the editor. That’s probably how I first became aware of him. (A letter he wrote in July 2021 blasting legal fireworks sales is a personal favorite.)

At some point, Slinkard’s emails started landing in my inbox. Only once or twice a year at first. But as I began writing about news and politics more frequently, more of his messages began popping up.

Slinkard’s emails contained both historical context and pointed comments about certain individuals. His tone toward me was complimentary, but that didn’t prevent him from disagreeing with certain opinions — he felt I was too tough on the Fresno Grizzlies when someone died during their hot dog eating contest — or offering critiques.

Slinkard didn’t respond to every column, or even most. I typically heard from him every three months or so. (The last time was in June.) But when he did email, sometimes just an encouraging sentence or two, it really meant something.

It meant I had achieved his standard.

“Kudos for today’s column about the In God We Trust nonsense,” Slinkard wrote in June 2017. “Grandstanding and moralizing are what the council does. That slogan added to Fresno’s reputation as California’s pit stop.”

“Your recent pieces on the river parkway, Devin Nunes and high-speed rail give the paper a spine,” he wrote in May 2018. “A newspaper without a loud editorial voice has no spine.”

“Lots of great work lately over a remarkable range of subjects,” he wrote in November 2021. “Keep up the good work. Don’t let the bastards wear you down.”

Even though Slinkard got responses to most of his emails — even the ones that didn’t contain compliments — now that he’s gone I regret not having made the effort to meet him in person.

Because I’ll definitely feel his loss when trying to fill up an empty computer screen with words worth reading.