To the Editor (Emeritus)

Dear Bob,
The mailbag is a bit light this issue (apparently the last issue generated no heady passions) so I thought I would take the opportunity to drop you a brief note. As you bask in the cooler climates of Wisconsin in your important new position, you will not be surprised to learn that little has changed in the magazine game. Copy has gone astray in the U.S. mails, deadlines are only significant to those who have to meet them, and the notification that we are being considered for this year's Pulitzer prize has yet to arrive. Sigh, sigh.

Nonetheless, things proceed in some kind of reasonable order and the cooperative efforts of many insure that our constituency will continue to enlighten themselves with the information they generate and share. Your efforts over the past year and a half in making sure that the magazine remained a useful, quality publication deserve to be noted and I shall do so.

Quite frankly, from day one when you generously agreed to join your proposal for editorial responsibilities with ours from Southern Illinois almost two years ago, your leadership was outstanding. Through the many trials, tribulations, and learning processes that followed, you consistently acted as a positive catalyst for decisions that were equitable and responsive to evolving needs and often conflicting priorities related to the magazine. It is clear to me that your tenure resulted in maintenance and enhancement of positive relationships among the professional organizations, the universities, the service agencies, and the readership as a whole. In addition, your creative efforts and dedicated work obviously were instrumental in maintaining the quality of one of the best of the state professional magazines.

As I have expressed to you previously, I am personally very appreciative of our professional and personal relationship. I have learned a great deal from you and enjoyed working with you immensely. Although I am delighted that you are undertaking new vistas in an area you like very much, I shall miss the diminished opportunities to work together as closely as we have over the past couple of years.

The Editorial Board and I join in wishing you success and fulfillment as you take on your new challenges and responsibilities. On behalf of our readers and ourselves, we thank you very much for your personal and professional contribution. Not only are you a nice guy—you do good work.

Affectionately,
Len Cleary, Jr., Editor
IPRA-IAPD Joint Editorial Board

Illinois Parks and Recreation 34 September/October 1980