Cherish the ones who help you along the way

Jason Peevyhouse (left) is the Sports Editor of the State Gazette. One of his mentors, Tracy Sharp (right), recently passed away following a battle with cancer.

When you spend as many years in a single profession as I have here in the newspaper business, you get the pleasure of being able to meet a lot of people along the way.

Throughout these years, you also get to have some of these people help you along the way as you learn your way down the path of work and life.

But, when you’re lucky, you’re able to run across one who will help shape you in ways you’re not always aware of at the time and until years later.

Back in 2002, my first full-time job in the newspaper business was actually on the news side of things. The paper had a great sports editor who had spent the past high school season mentoring me on that end and she was not going anywhere.

Around this time 22 years ago, the news reporter spot came open when the reporter elected to move back home. After all, Martin is very much a college town so this was not a shock. I had just decided to move to Martin on a full-time basis and was already helping out in the news department. So, I applied and got the job.

Flash forward about three months and, while I was doing a good job covering board meetings and writing features, something was kind of missing.

It was at this time that Tracy Sharp was brought in to mentor me. I had met her previously but this was where the bond which was made between us was formed. Her purpose was not necessarily to teach me as much as to help me polish things. Specifically, my feature writing ability.

If you’ve ever read any feature or profile I have written over the years, there’s a lot of Tracy in that.

But, over the course of the coming years, she became a mentor to me on so many levels. From helping me out with feature writing to just teaching me lessons on life, Tracy was a big influence. I could outline ways she helped me – specific things – or even just tell you all stories of the times I spent with her. Sadly, I would not be able to do this great woman justice.

Tracy passed away recently after a lengthy battle with cancer. When I found out, I lost my words.

Those who know me, know how rare that happens.

I’ve had a few mentors over the course of 25 years in the newspaper business and have taken from each of them to build myself into what I hope is someone these people can be proud of.

Tracy. Warner Agee. Joey Guest. Stephanie Sturgis. David Fisher. Too many to name really. And, most of those are names you probably won’t be familiar with. They and many others deserve a thank you from me.

And, I guess, that’s the message of this. Cherish your mentors because you really don’t get a lot of them. The ones who put aside what they want in order to help others are the ones you will miss the most when they’re gone. Tracy, who never wanted to be king, just a king-maker, left this world and this business in better shape than she found it. And she made a lot of kings along the way. Thank you, Tracy. For everything.