Of all the people I have come in contact with, one stands out as the most interesting. George D. Graves Jr. worked as an associate editor at The Leader and State Register in Seaford in the 1970s and into the 1980s. He moved to Laurel after his paper in New Jersey went bankrupt.
He banged out his stories on an old manual Royal typewriter without ever making a typo that I can recall. He stayed with the typewriter even when we made the move to basic computers. I can still see him sitting at his desk hitting those keys with ashes from a half-lit cigarette falling all over the paper.
He was a curmudgeon who appeared to be about as gruff as a person could be. He liked to bet on the horses and took a drink or two from time to time. What many people didn't know is that he had a heart of gold under his wrinkled, plaid sports coat and mismatched, stained shirt.
He's the one who always seemed to find the stories that tugged at your heartstrings. In contrast, he's the only reporter I've run across who was physically carried out of a meeting for demanding public information. The die-hard Republican was also close friends with Democrat Joe Biden when he was a young senator.
Sen. Biden would stop and check on George from time to time, and he called me to see how he was doing. He was one of the few people who attended George's funeral.
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Ron MacArthur has lived and worked in Sussex County all his life. As a journalist for nearly 50 years, he has covered everything from county and town meetings to presidential visits. He also has a unique perspective having served as an elected official and lived on both sides of the county.
Contact Ron at ronm@capegazette.com
