Chris Coates
Executive Editor and Lee Enterprises Senior Director-Local News
The last time I spoke to Dave Bundy, I told him he was in my Mount Rushmore of editors — the gold standard, the best of the best.
The truth is, he’s among the best all-around human beings, too. Anyone who worked with him, laughed with him or loved him could confirm that assessment.
Let me tell you why.
Lincoln Journal Star Editor Dave Bundy speaks to the Judiciary Committee in March 2013 at the state Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska.
I met Dave 18 or so years ago, back when he was editorial director of the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, a weekly newspapers group operated by our parent company, Lee Enterprises. I was in my 20s and a reporter in Collinsville, Illinois.
Dave was my boss, although he was about the exact opposite of the stereotypical hard-nosed and prickly newspaper editor.
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Dave Bundy, who spent 13 years as the Journal Star's editor, died on Feb. 23. He was 57.
Rather, Dave was calm, compassionate and incredibly funny.
So funny.
But most of all, he was thankful.
That’s because he was a fighter.
Dave waged a battle against Stage 4 colon cancer in the early 2000s, when he was editor of The Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota and his wife Allison was pregnant with twins.
By the time I met Dave, he had beaten cancer. Our time with Lee took him to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he became editor of the Journal Star, and I went further north to the Sioux City Journal in northwestern Iowa, where I became editor. Dave went from mentor to colleague.
Chris Coates
In 2016, Dave was diagnosed with bile duct cancer. Cholangiocarcinoma, as it’s called, is rare and aggressive. The American Cancer Society estimates the five-year survival rate for someone with it is as low as 2%.
But Dave made it to five, then six, then seven and eight years.
He did it while staying relentlessly positive.
He did it while keeping things in perspective.
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“Chris?” I’d hear on the other end of the line, in Dave’s distinctive voice, which would reliably transition to some joke or wry observation.
He was funny even when talking about his prognosis at the end, like when I emailed him in January about a sports project.
“Got a reprieve from more chemotherapy yesterday because other body parts are malfunctioning, but I’ll take the break happily,” he wrote, before mentioning how being “bald, cold and skinny” in wintry Nebraska wasn't much fun.
Still, after two rounds of cancer, he termed these the “bonus years.”
The Friday afternoon before he died, Dave called me and, in his own way, said goodbye. As he so often did, he talked about what he was appreciative for in life. He talked about how he loved journalism and the newsroom. Then he talked about me.
I thanked him for everything.
And we hung up.
Dave was just 57. He leaves behind Allison and their four children, whom he loved very, very much.
That Dave is gone now is almost impossible to imagine.
But I still hear that voice.
I still hear the laughter.
And I still hear him talking about being so thankful.
And I’m so very grateful for that.
27 photos from the Times-Dispatch archives
In November 1953, the section of Monument Avenue between Horsepen Road and Keystone Drive in Henrico County began carrying eastbound and westbound traffic on separate sides of the median. About 20 signs were erected to let motorists know that they no longer shared a single side. The change was in anticipation of expanding the configuration to begin at the city limits.
In July 1950, women lounged on a floating platform at a swimming hole that was once a quarry. Starting in the 1800s, the area near what is now Willow Oaks was occupied by a large number of granite quarries. As they closed and were allowed to fill with water, they became popular recreation spots.
This December 1963 image shows the old Union School, a four-room school built in 1931 in Henrico County for $4,000. It was used for black students until it closed in the early 1950s. The county was considering offers from businesses to purchase the building, which sat on the south side of West Broad Street near Reynolds Metals Co. and was being used by the recreation department.
In June 1946, James Q. Jones took his male donkey on a two-week breeding circuit through Goochland, Louisa and Hanover counties. Jones “bugled his brains out” on his Boy Scout bugle to alert nearby horse owners and members of the League for Planned Mule Parenthood of his arrival.
In March 1946, while on a trip to America, British wartime leader Winston Churchill (left) addressed the General Assembly. Here, he watched as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the register in the old House of Delegates; Gov. William M. Tuck is between them.
In May 1968, the 18th annual Country Club of Virginia Member-Guest golf tournament was held; the winning duo shot 1-under par over three rounds to win by one stroke. The club, founded in 1908, opened its clubhouse in 1910, with the fourth-largest membership (about 1,100) of any country club in the nation.
The May 10, 1953, edition of The Times-Dispatch included a photo essay on the Dixie Container Corp., which produced boxes for tobacco, textile and furniture shipments. Here, smaller boxes are folded and taped on a machine operated by Jack Brownie.
In April 1942, about 26,000 Richmond men ages 45 to 64 participated in the country’s fourth Selective Service registration. These men were registering at Ginter Park School. Men in this age range were not subject to military service at that time, but they were being asked about special skills to determine how they could best aid the war effort.
In July 1952, the nation’s first 24-hour peacetime air raid alert system, called Operation Skywatch, began operation. Air Force members and volunteers staffing the Richmond filter station began plotting sightings of planes as they were called in.
In December 1940, barracks for 1 million soldiers were being built quickly at Camp Lee near Petersburg and other bases across the country — the Selective Training and Service Act had been enacted in September as part of preparations for World War II. At some installations, structures went up at the rate of one every 54 minutes.
In September 1960, College Presbyterian Church at Hampden-Sydney College was celebrating its centennial. Designed by theologian Robert Lewis Dabney, who was Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s chief of staff and biographer, the church is still used today.
This April 1935 image shows the historic Hanover Tavern, which dates to the 1730s and offered refuge for weary travelers doing business at the historic courthouse nearby. The tavern now serves as a restaurant and theater; the oldest part that still stands dates to 1791. Young statesman Patrick Henry lived there for several years after marrying the daughter of the tavern’s owners.
This October 1946 image shows heavy kraft paper, made from wood pulp, that was being converted into drinking cups at a Richmond factory. The majority of Virginia pulp and paper mills made this type of paper, which was used to make other goods. Factories were maximizing production after the war era had developed new and popular paper products.
This image shows “Sergeant Jack” Blizzard at the Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers’ Home in Richmond. Blizzard, who served as courier for Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson during the Civil War, was its last resident. After he died in early 1941, the home was closed, and the land at the corner of Grove Avenue and the Boulevard reverted to the state. One of the home’s cannons remains outside the former chapel, across from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
In January 1951, delegates to a mass meeting gathered at Leigh Street Methodist Church in Richmond after a federal judge refused to intervene in the case of seven black Martinsville men convicted of raping a white woman and sentenced to death. The Martinsville Seven were executed in early February.
In October 1942, Richmond was the site of Virginia’s largest military parade since World War II began, with more than 6,000 uniformed men and women marching along Monument Avenue and Franklin, Belvidere and Broad streets. The parade was organized as part of the nation’s drive to secure the voluntary enlistment of 18- and 19-year-olds in the war effort.
In August 1942, Anna Purcell (left) and Mrs. Thomas P. Bryan oversaw the surgical dressing division at the Red Cross chapter in Richmond. After the dressings were made, they were distributed all over the world.
In November 1953, Laura Viator (left), a nurse at Sheltering Arms Hospital in Richmond, showed Mrs. Russell Snead, chairwoman of the facility’s drug drive, an average day’s supply of drugs and dressings. Sheltering Arms, which celebrated its 125th anniversary last year, now serves as a rehabilitation facility.
In January 1990, thousands of spectators crowded into Capitol Square in Richmond for the inauguration of L. Douglas Wilder as the nation’s first African-American elected governor.
In January 1956, Stuart Circle Hospital in Richmond opened a new wing, which included 48 patient rooms and a nursery. The old building was remodeled, including the Lewis C. Bosher Memorial Library (pictured), which moved from the second floor to the first.
In March 1945, Navy Inspector M.E. Croft (left) and U.S. Employment Service Manager A.W. Clapton examined shells made at Tredegar Iron Works for the Navy’s use during World War II. Tredegar opened in 1837 and was a major manufacturing center for the Confederacy during the Civil War. It survived the evacuation fire of 1865 and continued as a production facility through most of the 1950s. Today the facility houses the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.
In October 1947, 85-year-old B.W. Partee (seated), caretaker at Camp Shawondasee in Chesterfield County for 26 years, was ready to retire. He was known as a storyteller, and here, he entertained E.G. McDowell, field executive of the Richmond Boy Scouts Council. Shawondasee closed in 1965 after more than 50 years serving Scouts in the region. The next year, the YMCA purchased the land, and its Camp Thunderbird still operates there.
In September 1940, the nearly 4,500-ton British steamer Markland was the first ship to dock at Richmond’s new Deep Water Terminal on the James River. The ship brought a cargo of 1,000 tons of newsprint from Nova Scotia for The Times-Dispatch and News Leader.
In June 1972, the remnants of Hurricane Agnes brought some of the worst flooding in decades to Richmond, as seen in a watery railroad underpass in the Shockoe area of Richmond. The James River crested at 36.5 feet at the city locks.
In October 1963, Thomas Jefferson High School Principal W.W. Brock Jr. presented to Col. John W. Garner, commander of the Richmond school’s cadet corps, the new National Defense Cadet Corps flag, bearing the Thomas Jefferson emblem. The flag was the gift of an anonymous donor. Previously, cadets had carried only the American and Virginia flags.
![To Encourage Birds: Almonds Installed Bird Bath in Formal Garden [Governor's Mansion]](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/richmond.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/22/322d95c6-c42b-5489-ab2d-6a40c48faa68/55be6af32eb41.image.jpg)
In November 1958, Virginia first lady Josephine Almond presented changes that had been made to the Executive Mansion to make it more personable. In a nod to her love of birds, this birdbath had been installed in the formal garden.
Chris Coates is senior director-local news for Lee Enterprises, the parent company of The Times-Dispatch.
Chris Coates
Executive Editor and Lee Enterprises Senior Director-Local News
