Throughout my 35 years at The Herald, I have met many readers through my correspondence for the paper — sometimes just a little, or sometimes on a regular basis — who stand out and touch my life in some way.
That person for the last few years has been Hugh Fowler. Now, before I became editor, I had heard his name before. Hugh had strong opinions and would share them on a regular basis through our Letters to the Editor platform.
I know editors before me didn’t run every letter he sent in because he did write a lot them. But me? Well, I encouraged them. We are a community newspaper and welcome our readers to share their views. Of course, there are rules to follow and sometimes I had to edit his letters more than usual, but that was OK, and I ran them.
I became friends with his wife, Peg, on Facebook, and Hugh and I developed an email friendship, and I enjoyed talking to him and saved his emails. I was looking at them this week and smiled at the one from 2020: “Darn, but you have two, I counted them, of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I can only get away with saying that because Peg does not have blue eyes! Have an exciting day and please stay safe.”
When I got married in 2022, I received an email signed from Hugh and Peg: “Have seen some wedding pictures. Beautiful gown being supported by an even more beautiful bride. Much happiness to you both. And Sampson as well.”
We shared over the sadness of the couple losing their cat, and laughed at the antics of the new cat. Then I received an email where he talked about a friend who was only 60 years old and “will probably get no older. He would go to the doctors, get checked and go home. His wife would ask whether he had mentioned any pain to the doctor. He would say no since that is not what he went for. When he finally did mention it the resulting test diagnosed his pain to be pancreatic cancer stage 4 with a year to live. That year has now been shortened to days and he is in hospice. DON’T WAIT TO MENTION ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY. EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT ARE THE KEY.” He went on to talk about the history of cancer in his family and his own battles.
“My own case started in 1998 with prostate. After removal we moved on. It came to visit at 3 in the morning when my appendix blew into my intestine in 2014. Cancer has a marker called CEA. It is used as a guide as to what is happening in your body. After going from 4 to 91 over 4 years we decided to do some treatments. In May I will enter my 7th year of treatments every 2 to 3 weeks. It has side effects which makes going places more difficult. They come on without warning. My cancer is terminal and I am stretching the treatment time frame a fair bit. “You should have noticed that those in my family took action after EARLY WARNING. EACH OF US TOOK THE WARNING SERIOUSLY. WE ARE ALL ALIVE. DON’T HESITATE. DON’T BE A HERO OR A DEAD HERO.”
He had written that on a Monday night and said it wasn’t a letter to publish, but I didn’t see it quickly enough and in true lovable Hugh form I received an email asking was his cancer article unacceptable?
I told him not at all, but I was hurt to read he was battling cancer yet again, but I hoped to have him around for a long time.
“You did say it was not a letter to the editor, but maybe you should write a letter to run about catching cancer early makes the difference,” I told him.
He gave me the typical Hugh reply: “Are you saying to rewrite it into a get off your butt and heed the early warning signs?”
“Yes! I think you should write a letter about how not to ignore pain. You could save a life Hugh!”
And once again, he shared his opinion — this time about cancer — with our readers. You can still read that letter at bit.ly/3yND6G9. I had noticed recently that I had not heard from Hugh, which was surprising because of all the political mess in the news that I thought for sure I would be getting a letter to the editor from him. On May 24, I sent him an email just checking on him since I hadn’t heard from him in so long.
On Monday morning, News Editor Richard Holm and I were hard at work on deadline for Tuesday’s edition, when my phone rang. I answered it on speaker phone and it was Peg calling. She told me she was finally able to get into his email and saw my note and thought she would let me know he had been in hospice care and had passed away that morning. That news hit us both like a brick wall. We just looked at each other. No more Hugh letters? More importantly, no more Hugh? I hope he knew how much we really appreciated his support of this paper as a reader and a contributor — and as the wonderful person and friend we knew, but not nearly long enough.
Richard said he admired Hugh’s strong voice in the Herald newspaper, as not many took advantage of its purpose. Richard said Hugh’s contribution to the newspaper allowed him to express his thoughts on current events and his personal life from a local’s standpoint. “Hugh was an exceptional man who wrote in the words of a true and fearless American patriot regardless if you agreed with him or not,” Richard said. “Hugh’s utilization of our newspaper’s Letters to the Editor was his outlet and is forever ingrained in published print. Centuries from now, people will read in our paper a glimpse of who Hugh was as an American, an honorable man whose history now lives on through the pages of the Herald.”
I think Richard summed him up pretty well.
Rest in peace Hugh — we will see you on the flip side.