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After 42 years, I'm leaving the Observer.
I knew retirement eventually would come, just as my 65th birthday did in February.
Still, the past 19 years as development columnist covering my hometown's emergence as a major city zoomed by like a flash.
This was my dream job.
I was business editor working with longtime columnist M.S. Van Hecke as he approached retirement.
I whispered in his ear one day. “Van, tell me when you're ready, so I can announce to the managing editor: ‘Van is retiring; I've found his replacement.'” We pulled it off.
I became a journalist in 1965, not necessarily with a burning desire to change the world but to help pay for my senior year at UNC Chapel Hill.
The Raleigh Times hired me to work as a part-time general assignment reporter. My first story ran on page 1.
After that, more fun: meeting Sonny and Cher at a concert, covering the state fair, doing “man” on the street interviews at Meredith College, an all-girls school.
I couldn't believe it – a paycheck for something I would have done for free.
After graduation, I stayed with The Times until the Charlotte News recruited me in 1967. When the News faltered in 1983, I bolted to a sister paper in Wichita, Kan. Four years later, the Observer hired me back.
I've written and edited hundreds of stories on everything from politics to wheat farming to new skyscrapers.
The memories range from covering a fire and seeing a mother weep as rescuers carried from her burning house two tiny lumps – her toddlers – under a white sheet; searching for the legendary “Sally's ghost” under a bridge in west Mecklenburg; seeing Nancy Reagan's face when they seated me next to her by mistake at a presidential debate, and hearing Johnny Harris describe his vision of Ballantyne when the south Mecklenburg site was still undeveloped.
During most of this decade I've covered the phenomenal rush of homeowners back to the urban core, the rise of edge cities at Interstate 485 interchanges, the shift toward mixing office, retail and residential buildings on the same site and the developmental impact of light rail on south Charlotte.
I captured much of that change in my Next Big Thing column, which was put on hold this year as recession slammed the real-estate industry.
My last day is June 5. I plan to remain in Charlotte and explore new opportunities.
In the meantime, I'm passing the torch to Kerry Hall, who joined the Observer in 2002.
Kerry, who has a master's in journalism from Northwestern University, was part of the award-winning Observer team that last year produced “The Cruelest Cuts” investigative series on workplace safety in the poultry industry.
I never imagined that I would retire at such a challenging time for newspapers. But I'm confident that the dedicated and talented journalists who work here will pull the Observer through.
Thank you, everyone, for the memories.
Doug Smith: 704-358-5174; dougsmith@charlotteobserver.com
