A sad day
Guilford County lost two good ones this week. I write about them because they were longtime friends of this newspaper.
Dr. John Bumgarner, a cardiologist, was a regular letter-to-the-editor writer for years. (He really didn't like the Clintons.) He was, of course, much more than that. As a prisoner of war in WWII, he treated survivors of the Bataan death march. He wrote a memoir on that experience and other non-fiction books.
Stanley Shavitz wrote fewer letters but he worked the phones like mad. It wasn't unusual for me to come in on Monday morning with a voice message from Stanley, discussing something in the paper over the weekend. He had similar relationships with several people at the paper.
I knew both men and hate to lose them as friends. They were the kind of people Guilford County needs more of: civically engaged, constructive, opinionated, and of good heart. We'll miss them.