Changing of the guard

Bobby Allyn

In the past month, we've seen three very talented colleagues leave The Oregonian:

Galen Barnett, my former colleague in Editorial, retired Friday after a long career at the newspaper, most of those spent as either the designer of the front page or a jack-of-all-trades in the editorial department, where he edited reader submissions, selected commentary from the wire services and designed handsome editorial and op-ed pages every day.

Brent Walth, a top-rank investigative reporter, author of an acclaimed biography of the late Gov. Tom McCall and part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories about the INS, resigned to become managing news editor of Willamette Week, the alternative weekly where he began his career.

Greg Adams retired in April as quietly as he conducted himself in the newsroom. A consummate pro on the copy desk, he did the work that's invisible to readers, writing headlines, smoothing out rough language, bringing clarity to murky thinking, and catching potential errors before they found their way into print.

Together, these guys had spent about 75 years in our newsroom. You don't easily replace talent and experience like that. But you can take heart in seeing the passion and potential in the next generation of journalists.

That's why it was such a pleasure to have a goodbye-and-good luck breakfast yesterday with Bobby Allyn, a working-class kid from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who's also moving on from The Oregonian.

Bobby joined us last year out of American University as a one-year reporting intern in one of our suburban bureaus. I've gotten to know him and his work over the past several months because the two of us have been part of the regular crew that works Saturdays. He's handled any number of general assignment news and feature stories and often shot photos to go with the stories. Like everyone else, he's adept at posting them on our blog -- and he's always brought a smile and a good attitude to the job.

Now he's moving on to his first full-time job as a real estate reporter at The Tennessean in Nashville. It's going to be a challenge, developing sources and building expertise in a new beat in an unfamiliar  part of the country. But that's what young journalists do -- they explore and adapt and they put those life lessons and work experience to use at the next rung of the ladder.

Bobby told me he has 36 hours of driving between Portland and Nashville, which he hopes to cover in six days. As I write this Tuesday morning, I imagine he's either enjoying San Francisco or reluctantly preparing to leave the city for his next stop in Los Angeles.

At 23, he's the same age as my youngest son, Jordan, and eager to embrace his new adventure. He's also acutely aware of these uncertain times in the news industry. At a time when veteran journalists (let alone parents) openly question a young person's decision to pursue journalism, it's refreshing to hear him talk with such zeal. If he can succeed in Nashville, a place that will present all kinds of challenges, that will be a significant accomplishment that points the way toward future success.

I remember the idealism I felt at that age. It's great to see it reflected in the face of such an earnest young man. I wish him -- and all his peers -- the very best, for they represent a changing of the guard.