These past couple of weeks I have had to deal with the retirement of a longtime local columnist, the ever steady, hard-working and knowledgeable Southport columnist Leigh Sherrill. She has moved from Southport to St. Andrews Village and will not be in constant contact with the island – although her face, I’m sure, will show up there regularly when she can. We wish good things for her in her new home. Thank you, Southport Central School students, for your cards and notes thanking Leigh for her service.

I have also had to deal with the absence of the same ever steady, hard-working and knowledgeable Feature page columnist Joe Gelarden. He came back strong this week after two weeks of dealing with a medical issue. We wish him well in his recovery and hope to see his face in the office soon.

We are still hoping someone steps up to fill Leigh’s shoes – or should we say – takes on the task of providing the newspaper and our readers with the island’s happenings. Yes, sometimes Leigh used information from what we had already published online for her weekly column, but she also heard from folks via email, at the post office, at the general store, at the yacht club, etc. with information to put in the column. We sometimes learned of events to cover through her column.

Cranking out 600-800 words in the column (sometimes more, sometimes less) takes work, but once established as the columnist, people come to you with information. Leigh did it for 24 years and rarely did she not come through with a column.

Should you want to volunteer as the Southport columnist, give me a ring at 207-844-4626 or email me at kevinburnham@boothbayregister.com