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NICOLE CLARK Audiologist Technology needs updating. So do your hearing aids! Voted #1 Hearing C entre in Oakvill e Nicole Clark & The Oakville Hearing Centre invite you for a free demonstration of the latest hearing aid technology from Widex on Wednesday, October 5th , . Try WIDEX CLEAR and hear the difference! 905.849.5894 www.oakvillehearing.com In the Trafalgar Professional Centre 1235 Trafalgar Road, Suite 207, Oakville, ON Call today to book an appointment! 9 W ednesday, Septem ber 14, 2011 O A K V ILLE B EA V ER w w w .in sid eH A LTO N .co m beats of every kind at papers such as the Milton Canadian Champion, Oakville Journal Record, Milton Tribune, Burlington Spectator and the Oakville Beaver. In the late 1980s, he was news editor at the Beaver. He would be Sunday editor, associate editor and then managing editor. Jerred has had many memorable moments through the news and those he worked and befriended. Jerred recalled covering the Mississauga train derailment. He remembered interviewing peo- ple, car by car, as east-end Oakville residents, who had been evacuated, filed home. There were the special editions that he, with help from former sports editor Norm Nelson, put together when Donovan Bailey struck gold at the Olympics. He remembered the events of 9-11, a global event that occurred now a decade ago. Jerred, like everyone else got to work and began follow- ing on radio the tragic events as they unfolded. I remember Jill Davis called and said there was a planeload of kids from Halton on a Dreams Take Flight trip that was flying over Washington, landed in Florida and was stranded there. We had a reporter and photographer on the trip and Oakville kids on the flight. Jill said, Were part of the story. Jerred then began scrambling to assemble Beaver coverage and put out the edition. During the 2003 Ontario blackout, Jerred remembers sitting in his car listening to the radio as he again directed staff to assemble the Oakville angles to the story (all while nursing what would be an emergency root canal per- formed the following week) and putting out the paper on a laptop plugged into an idling car. There have also been the sad stories, the most gut-wrenching of which followed the all-too- short lives of children battling cancer. Jerred made the pages of The Oakville Beaver when he had his head shaved in support of can- cer research in 2006. He repeated the deed in 2010, along with co-workers, this time in sup- port of Davis and her recent battle with cancer. Able to be tough and stand his ground, Jerred was also fair with his staff. Nor would he hesitate to concede when that was fair. Over the years, he received much praise and equal criticism all of which he took in stride. Jerred has witnessed much in Oakville. There arent too many details or people he doesnt know. He has worked with many journalists and other newspaper people over the years. He earned their respect. Rod is a great newsman and editor. We have worked together for many years and have never been out of sync, his graphic editing skills are top-notch. Rods positive manner and strong work ethic will be missed. He has a friendly smile and a kind heart, which are important personal- ity features in running a newsroom for a com- munity newspaper, said Riziero Vertolli, the Halton Division chief of photography. Rod has an incredible nose for news he can smell a news story a mile away. He also has great intuition, a keen sense for an award-win- ning feature plus incredible pagination skills. He's a big-hearted guy, a fair and honest man, with a great sense of humour, a trivia and movie buff and perhaps the world's most ardent sports fan, said retired Oakville Beaver Community Living Editor Wilma Blokhuis. Rod is passionate about the welfare of others and I'll never forget the day he decided to have his head shaved bald at Oakville Place to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. Rod is a tireless worker who doesn't quit until the job is done; he's not a 9-to-5 guy, but more of a 9-to- when-it's-done guy. He never went home before the paper was put to bed. He lives and breathes news and sports, said Blokhuis. While politicians have come and gone on the local landscape, long-time former mayor and former Oakville United Way director, Ann Mulvale, saw her lengthy local career cross many of the same years as Jerreds. He has been such a skilled editor of The Oakville Beaver for so many years. Rod devel- oped a very balanced approach to the editorial policy of the paper, understanding the role of a community paper. Hell be missed, said Mulvale. Perhaps one of Rods greatest strengths was working with up-and-coming reporters. I am sure there are many in the working world today thanking Rod for giving them that all-important boost. He will be sorely missed at community events and by his long-time staff, said Davis. Jerred said he never planned to stay so long, he just liked going to work every day. And while the technology changed, the heart of journalism has not. It was always about getting good stories. That was true in the days when Jerred was known for inch-thick documents cut and pasted on hard A copy churned out on a manual typewriter. press release was three days in the mail and the advent of faxes made life a lot easier. A telephone was a reporters best friend. Email, digital pagination and photography advanced the industry by leaps while it continues to race to keep astride the bounds it has taken into the 24/7 world with web publishing. The web, Twitter and social media have made research easier, said Jerred, but still the best source of information and best critic is the reader. The reader is why Jerred liked coming to work each day and why he worked hard and long until the job was done to give the best story to the reader. I have known Rod for more than 25 years and have worked with him for some 18. We have both helped each other through some recent difficult times and it will be hard for me to say goodbye. However, like the news pages that he oversees, change is constant. I wish him all the best, said Davis. Its hard to leave a community Ive been so heavily involved with for more than 30 years, said Jerred. Veteran newsman heads home in search of news challenges Continued from page 8