Community gave Rick a treat

Big thank you to the community and everyone that came to The Recorder office on Friday to meet with Rick Elkins on his final day as Publisher/editor here. Quick sidenote, his replacement has not been named.

We kept waiting for the stream of people to lighten up at some point over the three hours, but it never did and it actually lasted closer to four hours. Rick shared the big day with his wife, Doris and daughter, Dana.

Leading up to Friday, it was obvious Rick was worried. First off he’s not a big fan of being in the spotlight, or least that’s the vibe he gives off. And secondly, he wasn’t sure anyone would show up.

You never know who or how many will show up, especially to a midday Friday retirement gathering, but I was pretty confident Porterville would make a great showing. Spend anytime in Porterville or this part of the Valley and it becomes apparent very quickly that we are a big family. We may not always get a long, but when it’s time to honor someone for their years of service to the community people here put their squabbles on the backburner and do the right thing.

People of all ages and walks of life met with Rick and wished him the best in retirement. He was tickled that someone who identified herself as longtime reader wanted to shake his hand and tell him she appreciated what he did.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux presented Rick with a plaque thanking him for years of reliable reporting. Tulare County Board of Supervisor Mike Ennis dropped in as well as Porterville City Manager John Lollis and several of his staff, outgoing Porterville College President Rosa Carlson, and Burton School District Superintendent Sharon Kamberg, just to name a few.

In total Rick spent 22 years at The Recorder. He was initially hired by Bob Moyle, who was the editor here for more than 20 years.

Rick worked for newspapers in Dinuba, Lemoore, Porterville, Visalia and Tulare over his career that spanned four decades. He proudly graduated from Fresno State with a degree in journalism and put it good use.

Moyle came by the office on Friday. As Bob and Rick talked, I remarked to someone there’s close to 50 years of editor at The Recorder standing there.

Two gentlemen walked through that we did not really know, but that quickly became stars were two of Rick’s college roommates, who came to wish their buddy the best.

Probably the question that Rick was asked the most centered around what he was going to do now.

Rick said he didn’t have any big travel plans, yet, but that he would like to do some traveling. His immediate plans were to get started on a couple of projects he’d been wanting to do around the house, spend more time with his family, including his dog, garden, play golf, and perhaps rid his backyard of a pesky rat.

Sounded like the main thing was to relax and try living life without a looming deadline constantly hanging over his head.

I and others suspect he’ll be a reporting again, probably as a freelancer, hopefully for us.

It was a treat to see everyone and to see the happiness and surprise on Rick’s face as each person came through the doors on Friday.

Rick is used to putting the spotlight on other people through the stories and photos published in The Recorder.

He said several times on Friday, “I just did my job.”

Pretty obvious to me and others that you did a little more. Enjoy the SF Giants game, dinner at Mortons and your time in San Francisco. You earned it.