The Brainerd (MN) Daily Dispatch
Sunday, October 18, 1998
Marty McGowan, a dedicated reporter, hangs up his keyboard
by Renee Richardson, Senior ReporterWhen his vision was failing, his dedication to the generational printer’s ink in his blood remained.
Pen and paper were replaced by a large key laptop computer and a magnifying glass when rereading the hand written notes became too difficult. And after six weeks of recovery from heart surgery, the writer would return to his reporting duties even though he was in his 70s.
But several weeks ago, Marty McGowan — who provided a historic, seasoned and steady presence covering Crow Wing County governmental meetings — announced he was hanging up his keyboard.
When he stood to tell county commissioners he was retiring for the second time, there were real sounds of surprise and dismay. Marty retired on his 63rd birthday from his account representative job with Volkmuth printers. That job would come after he served as public relations director for the College of St. Benedict, after a legislative career and after a long run as a newspaper reporter and owner.
And for the past few weeks as board members passed the chair Marty occupied in the three-seat reporting gallery, remarks would include missing the tall man’s presence.
Marty covered the Crow Wing County Board for the Lake Country Echo for more than three years. It was one work chapter in a career book that would see Marty educated at famous universities, working with newspapers, marrying a lifetime partner and raising nine children.
Marty began working as a newspaper man when fedora’s and press passes were still the telltale signs of the time. He also took to politics, serving the people through a DFL legislative career at the state capitol from 1958 to 1966.
His career would take him from his father’s weekly newspaper in Appleton to an education at Notre Danie and the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Besides a lifetime tie to newspapers, Marty would also work in television journalism. He spent five years at KTCA, the public television station in St. Paul.
But beyond his career, Marty represented a connection to a work ethic rarely glimpsed these days and to a generosity of spirit that would welcome a newcomer to board coverage.
Married to Betty Nolan in 1943, Marty would gain a partner in newspaper efforts. Betty’s dedication in the last few years would play a significant role in keeping both of them active in reporting, as she braved dark roads and early morning drives for governmental meetings.
At times it seems keeping the electorate informed about officials and meetings can be a dry meal to digest, but Marty appeared to be one of those individuals who believed in the journalist’s role to inform so people can make educated choices. And if the famous line is true about people getting the government they deserve, they were not entering the relationship blindly.
Marty’s coverage included the pieces that make the connection whole between issues and people. He retained an interest in politics and would be one of the venturous in the face of the electronic phenomenon of computers, Internet and e-mail.
The board room is not the same without Marty’s morning quest for coffee, his interest in new technology expressed during breaks in board action, or his ability to raise questions to commissioners.
But those who worked with Marty are better for the experience of having known him and by the example he set through a lifetime of commitment to the printed word.
Marty always seemed to be the kind of writer who knew Mark Twain’s quote that “the difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
In a life’s example of work and dedication to family, Marty proved he was familiar with the definition that can also applied to a life lived well.
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