Farewell to our Friend, Allen Worrell !!!

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

 

Out in uptown Laurel Fork, Marion Harris will be hosting the first of two days of his local version of the Ryder Cup ⛳ . Twelve local golfers 🏌️‍♂️will tee it up, first at Olde Mill Golf Resort and next Sunday the group will travel to the other end of the county, playing the final round at Blue Ridge.

Meanwhile, here in a few hours, Allen Worrell will put his key 🔑 in the front door 🚪of the Carroll News for the final time. His mission will be to create the final edition of the paper that he will be responsible for.

  The past 20+ years have been about Deadline Day for Allen Worrell but today will be a bit different for our Friend. Going through the process of sitting down at a computer 🖥 and having to decide which stories are worthy of making the cut ✂️ if a difficult task to say the least.

The first round of being judged comes from the decision on what all goes into the weekly publication. The number of events that take place inside of any seven day period is astonishing, making the paper is step #1.

The second part of the judgement comes in the form of the manner that Allen and David Broyles choose to cover a story. The task of writing ✍ the story is monumental and one’s ability to make a story work is directly connected to the availability of the information.

Fortunately, both of these young Men are solid individuals who take pride in their work ! The job at a Community Newspaper 📰 is to try and tell the story of said Community versus trying to create the News, Allen and David report the News.

  Kudos to Seth Greer and his football program for their efforts to make Allen feel appreciated 👏 by them. The relationship between the Editor of a weekly paper and a High School Football Coach is vital because the duo has to team up for 10+ stories each fall, whether or not its going to be a fun story to tell.

Saying goodbye to David Broyles is not going to be easy, not even a little. Plucky, as I enjoyed calling him, was set to ride off into the Sunset 🌇 here in a few days and that won’t happen now, not yet anyway. David will have the task of guiding the new person through the obstacle course that is learning all of the characters in Carroll County and the rolls that they play.

  The health issues that Mom 👩 is experiencing right now are beyond serious and they come shortly after saying goodbye to his Father. Going to be an interesting final day, for sure.

The past five years have been a pleasure for me as Allen and I created a business relationship that worked to the Moon 🌙 and back. My favorite part was anytime that Allen, Plucky and myself were sitting in the office 🏢 down on Main Street. The countless hours will not be forgotten anytime soon.

  Carroll County was blessed to have both Craig Worrell at the Gazette and his non-brother, Allen Worrell at the Carroll News for an entire generation of Carroll County residents. Some places never see one storyteller of this caliber, much less two.

  Thank You Allen, for the opportunity ,the friendship and the laughter ❤. Godspeed on your new journey and know that you will be missed 🙏….