It’s been a number of years since I remember first meeting Carol Stark, editor of the Joplin Globe. It was sometime after the catastrophic and deadly tornado ripped through the quiet, small city that she called home, killing 161 people and causing billions of dollars worth of damage. Yet Carol Stark moved forward, she had a job to do.

As a young journalist, I was a little awestruck at first, not knowing what to say or how to act in front of this woman whom I admired and desired to emulate. I recall sitting in a room at a Missouri Press convention, where the movie Deadline in Disaster played, and watching Carol out of the corner of my eye. The movie, a documentary based on her newspaper at the time of the tornado, was heart wrenching and motivating at the same time. But, I remember keeping an eye on Carol, who sat with a look on her face that could only be described as pride as she watched her team work through their emotions and forge on. They had a job to do.

Not long ago, I was selected to serve alongside Carol Stark on the Missouri Press Association’s Board of Directors. Still a little bit awestruck, but with a few more years under my belt, I realized that Carol was warm and inviting and had one of the biggest hearts of anyone in the room. She loved newspapers to her core, and she wasn’t shy about giving advice or speaking her mind when it came to defending her passion. She became not only someone I looked up to, but also a dear friend.

After a lengthy, ugly battle with cancer, Carol Stark left this world and headed to the next last week, undoubtedly with her byline at the ready to record her next series of columns. How I wish I could read what she writes next. Carol taught me many things in the years I got to know her, but most importantly, she helped to remind me to love what I do and make sure every word comes from a place of passion and love, regardless of the subject at hand.

Carol Stark was, in my mind, royalty in the world of Missouri journalism. I will miss her wit, her guidance, her criticisms and her warmness. But, I will do my best not to dwell, because, as she’d remind me, I have a job to do.

Some people don’t like change. My son, for instance, is the first to notice something out of place at home, and seems to have an attachment to most things that he’s grown up with (cars, furniture, etc.). For me, though, change can be exciting. Like, the start of a new school year, for instance. Though my calendar no longer coincides with that of the schools, I still feel a sense of new beginning this time of year.

Transitions happen many times throughout our lives, whether through personal changes or taking on new challenges in our careers. We’re in the process of transition here at the Advocate. As you may have read a few weeks ago, our sports editor has moved on to a new industry, and we began our search for someone to join our family business.

We’ve found a new member for our team, and I’ll let her introduce herself to you all next week. In the meantime, though, we are busy filling the pages with the local news and sports you’ve come to expect from our paper, and we look forward to having a new set of eyes and fresh ideas brought to the table. I’m excited about this change, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to bring you an even better product each week (and maybe a few extras here and there, too).

With the new school year comes some new possibilities. I can’t wait to get started.