Time to say goodbye, hello

It is with mixed emotion that I sit to pen this. Brian Orban started with the Mountain Home News in August of 2009 when he retired from the Air Force.

In January 2015, I had the distinct pleasure of promoting him to Managing Editor. Next Tuesday, Aug. 1, will be Brian's last full-time day at the Mountain Home News.

He is starting a new adventure in his life. He is an Ohio native along with his wife, Brenda, that choose to raise their three girls and retire here like so many of the military veterans in our area.

The topic of him stepping down was not new to me as we have talked about this eventually happening when he got ready. But this was still a sad moment for me to have a final date attached.

I am excited for him as he is following a passion of his that has only grown over the last several years and how it related to his position here as a writer and managing editor. You could hear it in his voice and with the smile on his face as he shared and wrote about the coverage he had that involved teaching the children and their families of our community.

He has been involved and volunteering his time with the local parks and recreation programs and school district programs during this time, teaching his amateur rocket science program that included building these small-scale rockets.

Let’s not forget the launches, which according to him is the best part, and it truly brings out the kid in him and his childhood dreams of being astronaut.

But it didn't end there. He has a similar passion to reaching for the stars by looking at the nighttime skies through his love of astronomy. He has shared his self-taught knowledge when it comes to these two topics with those he comes into contact with, either in a class environment or just because he took the time to share his love of science with others around our community.

It is this passion and willingness to share that knowledge and his belief in all things education as well as the critical need for opportunities for the children in our world that are our future that he is now ready to follow his dream of being a teacher.

All of us here at the paper will miss having Brian as part of our newspaper family, but we know he is not so far away that we can’t pick that “true editor” brain of his, which I must say carries a wealth of knowledge from the quirky movie references to the newspaper journalism that has been his career for more than 30 years.

We wish him great success and more vast feelings of accomplishment as he starts school the middle of next month. Go Broncos!

We are having an open house next Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m. so that you may stop by and congratulates him on this next journey. But never say goodbye as he will still be a valued member of our community and someone I will call a friend.

It has truly be a pleasure sharing the side of Brian when the writer's juices get geared up and you see the final product in our weekly Mountain Home News. Good luck and never be a stranger. Remember we have your number!

It is also my pleasure this week to introduce to you Miss Jenna Crowe. She will be replacing Brian and making up the second half of our editorial team along with staff writer Erin Burden. Jenna is a hometown Mountain Home young lady that graduated here and went on to college this last year to continue her studies in journalism after she did so in high school.

She has returned to Mountain Home to start her career with the opportunity we had with Brian leaving. Editors are not an easy position to fill as they are not only educated but curious, deadline and detailed driven by nature. She is young and has fresh ideas and a strong background in journalism and newspaper writing, pagination and design.

Brian is in full training mode until he leaves to make her comfortable with our procedures and routine. You might see them around, but we also will be pleased to introduce you to her when you stop to visit with Brian.

This again comes back to Brian and my belief that ourselves, our children and my grandchild had someone that believed in them to give us that first full-time job. We are excited that she, too, has a passion for writing and believes in her community and how a newspaper is a big part of the everyday news and information flow.

It is her new perspective of all things newspaper and the energy we saw that helped us to make the decision that she would be a new and valuable part of the Mountain Home News family.

Welcome, Jenna. I look forward to our working relationship and your inclusion into our working family.

As always, our open-door policy of calling or stopping by for a visit will remain here at the office, and we look forward to your continued support and validation of all of our passion to provide our readers with the news and events and happenings of Mountain Home and our area. Things that matter to you matter to us and we thank you.

I look forward to seeing you and we wish Brian good luck and Jenna Welcome!