Katelin Gandee is leaving us.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been sad, but OK with saying good-bye to a co-worker. This is one of those times.
As the years have rolled by, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some very interesting, talented and just plain fun people across seven states. Today, I bid farewell to one of my favorites.
Katelin was here when I arrived nearly four years ago. I wish I could take credit for hiring her, but she’d been hired right out of Coastal Carolina by my predecessor and friend Scott Witten about six months earlier. Thanks, Scott.
To say that Katelin was a rookie, raw, green and wide-eyed would be about right in July 2018. But boy has all that changed.
I will give one example: When I arrived, Katelin was apprehensive to put her by-line on a crime story. The reason was that she was a young, single girl living only with her cat Willow — so wasn’t interested in letting the bad guys know who was writing about their abysmal transgressions.
I understood that … for a while.
We had a chat about it. I told her if she had aspirations to write for bigger newspapers, she would have to be able to give them samples of her writing that were by-lined with her name and not “staff report.”
Today, Katelin has no qualms about attaching her name to anything she writes. She knows, after all, that the folks with the Laurinburg Police Department, Scotland County Sheriff’s Office and a few other places have her back.
I’m pretty sure Katelin got into newspaper journalism for the same reason as many others, and it’s not for the pay. Based on her work ethic, her wanting to experience new things, her loyalty and her social skills, I think she simply wanted to make her mark in a positive and meaningful way — by documenting history as it happens and telling people’s stories.
For more than four years, she has done just that … and then some.
There is really a very simple way to determine what Katelin has meant to The Laurinburg Exchange, the city of Laurinburg and Scotland County: just ask any of those she has worked closely with over the years. They will tell you they wish her well, but wish she wasn’t going.
Now I will tell you how much Laurinburg and Scotland County means to Katelin: She recently purchased her very first home here.
I could ask Katelin what her most memorable experience working with The Exchange is, and I’m pretty sure I’d be correct when I guessed it was when she jumped with the Golden Knights at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport. She only went to cover a story there, but ended up strapping on a parachute and a Golden Knight to leap out of a perfectly good airplane from more than 5,000 feet in the air.
Attawaytogo, Katelin.
But now, her career is taking a turn. And a pretty drastic one it is.
Katelin is turning in her reporter’s notebook and camera for the Dewey Decimal System and library cards as the new branch manager of the Pembroke Public Library in Robeson County. Full disclosure: She will be taking the place of my wife, who will move on to the main branch in Lumberton.
I feel sure Katelin would never have seen this coming several months ago, but a series of events opened this door and, to be honest, she will be a perfect fit. For those who don’t know, other than writing, one of Katelin’s other passions is reading.
Hand and glove.
So I am thrilled that Katelin has found a new and exciting career path that she should excel in. She may be leaving, but she will always be a part of the family here, and I can’t thank her enough for her hard work and friendship.
Without a doubt she left her mark, and a good one it is.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].
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