 |
SEARCH
Search Sponsored
|
|
|
|
|
Editor's Notebook
|
September 03, 2010
|
|
| 12/21/2009 2:43:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
|
| Lilian Carmer was rarely without a camera, even when she was showing her collie, Fairy, at a Mercy Rescue dog show last year at the North Vernon City Park. Here she talks with Tirzah Childs as Fairy and Strider, Childs’ Australian wolfhound, get acquainted. |
 |
 |
| Lilian Carmer spent many hours reporting from the Jennings County Courthouse, as seen in this photo from several years ago. In the background is Jim Funke when he was Jennings County clerk. |
|
A giving, loving person
Lilian Carmer remembered for newspaper work and more
Bryce Mayer
My earliest memory of Lilian Carmer is from a mighty long time ago. I was a grade school student and came into the newspaper office after school to see my father. Lilian gave me a piece of candy as she smiled. She was a giving person all her life.
She was also a loving person. She loved dogs, hummingbirds, fishing, politics, her work and people.
Her passing on Sunday leaves a huge hole not only here at the Plain Dealer & Sun, but in the entire Jennings County community.
I've worked with Lilian at this newspaper for 12 years in my current capacity and, before that, another dozen years or more on and off. She was a great one.
Lilian and I go back a long way, all the way back to when she started in the newspaper business half a century ago. My late father, Richard Mayer Jr., who didn't drive anything but a golf cart and a golf ball, would many days bum a ride home after work from her. "Can I mooch a ride?" he would ask. If I was around the newspaper office, which was often, I'd get a ride, too. Lilian would often laugh as she and my father conversed and joked about the events of the day, a relationship she and I repeated years later.
She was good at photography, writing features and hard news and editing copy. Her work as a reporter of local government is where she really shined. She knew the inner workings of government and used that to shed light with her reporting. The open door law and legal advertisement requirements were other specialties of hers.
Lilian and I shared many conversations, every workday in fact. Politics and current events were usually the main topics.
We almost always disagreed on national issues, but always amicably. In 2008, she was pulling for Fred Thompson in the presidential sweepstakes while I argued the case for Joe Biden. Both our candidates lost, but she embraced John McCain and I went with Barack Obama. The day after the election, I was diplomatic just as she was in 2000 and 2004 when her candidate won.
On local politics we were in far more general agreement. In fact, we almost always saw eye to eye. While an ardent Republican, Lilian got along well with all the top Democrats in the Jennings County area. Of course, being an objective reporter was in her job description, and she never had trouble there.
She was a font of information on Jennings County history, geography and people, which made her an invaluable commodity in the newsroom.
Lilian knew so many people, most on a first-name basis, particularly people out in the Jennings County hinterland. Her friendliness and good natured spirit made her easy to talk to and know, and a good interviewer. Often people would complain about a courthouse news item, mostly because they didn't understand that the information came directly from the clerk's office. She would always check out claims of mistakes, and make corrections on those rare occurrences when they were needed.
Her knowledge of local historic events, even those that occurred before her lifetime, was amazing. And I sincerely believe she could never get lost in Jennings County. She knew roads I never heard of and their precise locations.
Lilian laughed easily and genuinely, and had a wonderful wit and sense of humor. People of all stripes loved her, and for good reason, and she loved them back.
Her marriage to Bill Carmer was one of the most loving partnerships I have ever seen. When he died in 1997, Lilian was devastated. But she soon plunged back into her life and work.
Lilian may have slowed physically a bit in recent years, but never mentally. She was as sharp as a tack until the very end and worked steadily until she went into the hospital two weeks ago.
Outside of the office, she stayed active in civic causes. She served as a volunteer with the Jennings County Historic Preservation Association and the Historic Hoosier Hills Resource Conservation and Development Council, heading the board of directors of both nonprofit groups. She did so much with her church, Graham Baptist, and the Clionian Club.
Lilian and I shared a love for angling. She would go to Michigan every fall chasing king salmon, though this year she missed the trip because of health issues.
She also liked spectator sports, particularly college basketball, NASCAR racing and horse racing. She never missed making a small wager or two on the Kentucky Derby and won more from year to year on that most difficult handicapping challenge than most people I know.
Lilian was a winner in many ways. She was a sweetheart when dealing with people, a bulldog when digging up facts for a story.
She will be missed and never ever forgotten. Goodbye, Lilian.
|
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2010
Article comment by:
Carolyn (Corya) Bruce
Lilian and I graduated in the same class at Dupont High School. She was a straight-A student and a very kind, friendly classmate.
Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Sheila Kell
Lillian is one of the first people I met in Jennings County. I was researching my family at the Courthouse in 2001 and she was so kind to my mother and myself. I just this last year purchased a retirement home in Vernon and besides it being my ancestors home it will be mine sometime in 2010. A big reason for my favorable impression of the area was my contacts over the years with Lillian. Those of us who have gotten so much from her 100 years ago column have much to thank her for. A goodby from one of her admirers who currently lives in Indianapolis.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sun Front Page
