HARVEST REAPERS COMMUNICATIONS
  • Home
  • About Us
  • The Work
  • Portfolio
  • Regina's Blog
  • Contact

​

Ron Hadfield Celebrates 'Mondays with Dr. Charlie Marler'

6/12/2022

0 Comments

 

My journalism professor, mentor, and guiding light, Dr. Charlie Marler, died May 27, 2022, and I am creating a series of blog posts about the impact he had on my and his other former students’ journalism and media careers. I am bringing his colleagues and others into the conversation as well.  In this post, I share the text of Ron Hadfield's remarks from the Celebration of Life service, held June 1, 2022, at the University Church of Christ, Abilene, TX.

Fourth Post: Ron Hadfield's Remarks at Dr. Charlie Marler's Celebration of Life Service, June 1, 2022

By Ron Hadfield
Dr. Charlie Marler shared my father’s first name and like him, married a girl from western Kentucky. They didn’t know each other in the 1930s, but Peggy Lucille Gambill of Fulton and Margaret Ann Pullen of Farmington grew up just 21 miles from one another, and were cut in many ways from the same cloth.​

Picture
Dr. Charlie Marler was Regina Burns' former Communication Law professor and mentor.

​I have always said that the toughest editor in the Marler house wore a skirt to church on Sunday mornings. It’s true, you know. I saw it on the marked-up papers our son brought home from elementary school, which made him groan

Picture
Ron Hadfield

Download the .PDF from the memorial service

Picture
Cover of the program for the Celebration of Life service, held June 1, 2022, in Abilene, TX.

and his parents smile. ​His teacher, Peggy, was an uncompromising editor, but a loving one, and one of Tanner’s earliest encouragers that he become a writer, which he has. 

The Marlers shared Charlie’s 89th home-cooked birthday lunch with me last month, a feast including two of his favorites: barbeque pork ribs and a decadent chocolate cake. The conversation was candid and comforting, and it reminded me of moments years ago around the same table between this college student and two of the most godly people I’ve ever known.

Charlie Marler was my college professor, my professional mentor and my Texas Father, and not always in that order. I did not aspire to be a college professor, but in most other ways, my journalistic apple, so to speak, did not fall far from his tree.

By task and by default, we have found ourselves serving as unofficial historians for Abilene Christian, for a combined total of more than 100 years, a number I have a hard time grasping. 

That’s a privilege and a responsibility we enjoyed but took seriously: a blessing with, at times, a heavy yoke. In short, we learn about our shared alma mater, store the facts where others can hopefully find them later, and tell stories about its people and moments that matter most. 

​​Together, we have worked across the street at a place where the late, great academic dean Walter H. Adams once said he was a member of the church, at the institution where he was worth more to the church than anywhere else. We saw our work that way, as mission and vocation.

For just short of 40 years, I have had the often unenviable task of proofing and editing the best editor I knew. 

Early on, I felt like the relief pitcher waiting in the bullpen to follow Mariano Rivera, the nearly infallible and eventual Baseball Hall of Fame closer who wrapped up wins for the New York Yankees: When Mariano and Charlie were through being great at what they do, there was not much meat left on the proverbial barbeque pork rib.

Even at the end of his eighth decade, Charlie could work circles around most people half his age. His work ethic, like my own parents, has been an inescapable inheritance. Before his stroke and fall last week, he likely was online, at age 89, researching something to benefit his latest project for me or his own interest on ACU’s behalf.

Over time, kinks began to show in his armor, thanks to failing vision, a slightly leaky memory and the challenge of keeping up with "Associated Press Stylebook" editors who changed their mind on punctuation and usage like most of us change our socks. 

But he genuinely appreciated the extra set of eyes I brought to our relationship, and we regularly exchanged drafts of our work. I sought his counsel on difficult days, and he always wanted to know what was new in my world. Over time, my professor became my teammate and confidant. 
​
​He never stopped being a champion of free speech yet always defended, even demanded, the truth be told as well. 

Picture
Photo courtesy of The Portal to Texas History, https://bit.ly/3zvyC5q

​Ours was not unlike the relationship I came to enjoy with the late Dr. John C. Stevens, ACU’s eighth president and another unofficial historian who spent half a century on campus as professor and administrator. The three of us collaborated on two history books, and on projects small and large, including those for an ambitious Centennial that took decades to plan, 12 months to celebrate and years to recover ​from.

The ironies never failed to awe me. Dr. Marler was the newspaper advisor and Dr. John the president during my college days and two tours of duty as editor of The Optimist. I probably kept both of them on their toes with investigative stories and youthfully enthusiastic editorials that took no prisoners. Years later, though, I found myself as Stevens’ golf partner many Saturday mornings and the rest of the time, as Charlie’s storyteller sidekick. 

Dr. John and Dr. Marler, fellow members of this church, each died in the month of May, now 15 years apart. My memories of them, like those described so eloquently by James Earl Jones in the iconic baseball film "Field of Dreams," are so thick today that I, too, have to brush them away from my face. 

​Mitch Albom, the best writer in my hometown of Detroit – and most other hometowns – wrote a top-selling book several years ago titled "Tuesdays With Morrie," a touching account of the time he spent with a beloved former college professor dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. In the final chapter, Albom asks:
​ 
Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back. Sometimes it is only in your head. Sometimes it is right alongside their beds.

​The teaching, Albom says, always goes on.

​​The last few years, I was fortunate to have regular meetings over lunch with Charlie, in addition to countless calls from his cell phone, which made me laugh because caller ID showed each to be from “Sweetwater, Texas” although he was never there. We met on other days as well, depending on Peggy’s trips to the hairdresser or lunches with her friends.

​I told myself those gatherings were my Mondays With Marler, although there was no impending health issue, only sacred time with a mentor who had increasing trouble – like many of us as we age – getting up and down from his chair. His mind was as sharp as his wit. ​

​For some reason, I had the overwhelming thought during the most recent lunch that it might be our last, and it was. That particular Monday With Marler was a bright day, the grass never greener and roses never more red outside the windows in the sun room where he worked and held court with me, and for years before, with students on Fridays in his Opinion Writing class.

Dr. John would often exclaim the words, “We shall not see his like again!” on more than one occasion about a passing dignitary or world leader, a paraphrase of Shakespeare’s famous line in Hamlet. Truer words were never spoken about each of them, as I shall not see their likes again, these two people who shaped me like no others.

With Charlie’s passing, the circle of unofficial historians for this university has become uncomfortably small. Thankfully, my life and work have been enriched by these two exacting but benevolent giants who shared their knowledge, took the time to know me and envision me at my best, and showed me the way there. 

Especially this dear man and mentor, my Texas Father, whose teaching goes on. 

Learn More:
Dr. Cheryl Mann Bacon Celebrates the Life and Legacy of Dr. Charlie Marler 
​Journeying Through Grief: The Death of My Mentor, Dr. Charlie Marler

0 Comments



    Connect With Us:
    Connect with us on LinkedIn  Follow us on TwitterReview our YouTube Channel



    Image_ReginaLBurns

    About the Author:

    Regina L. Burns, M.A., Project+, is an award-winning multimedia editor and journalist, specializing in Black history and African American stories at Harvest Reapers Communications. Her work has been published in Texas Highways magazine, WFAA-TV, The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as well as The Commercial Appeal, the Tri-State Defender and The Flyer, among others.

    She previously worked for a variety of news media organizations as an editor and journalist, including The Associated Press in Mississippi and Texas. She was news director at WLOK-AM and WGKX KIX-106 FM in Memphis. Learn more

    Categories

    All
    1960s
    1964 Nobel Peace Prize
    1964 Republican National Convention
    1968 King Assassination
    1994 940 Volvo
    2007 Pulitzer Prize In History
    2012
    2013
    2018 Women's History Month Salute
    2019 Women's History Month
    4 Ideas To Support 'Motherless' Friends On Mother's Day
    5 Things You Can Do NOW To Build Search Engine Optimization
    AAUW
    Abilene
    Abilene Christian University
    Abolitionist
    ACU
    ACU Library
    Advanced Placement English
    Advice Interactive Group
    African American
    African-American
    African-american
    African American History
    African-American History
    African American Museum
    African American Women
    African-American Women
    Alabama
    Alamo
    Alice Randall
    Alice Walker
    Alvin Ailey
    America
    Ampere
    Amzie Moore
    Analytics
    Anna Murray
    Ann Arbor
    Annie White
    A.P. English
    App
    Appetite
    Apps
    Aretha Franklin
    Asia Rodgers
    AT&T
    "At The River I Stand
    "attitude Of Gratitude"
    Audacity
    Back To School
    Barbara Kelly
    Belva Davis
    Bernadette Coleman
    Big Data
    Bill Hogg
    Bird
    Bird Sounds
    Birmingham
    Birthday
    Bishop T.D. Jakes
    Black Enterprise
    Black Hair Styles
    Black Historian
    Black History
    Black History Month
    Black History Month 2014
    Black Journalists
    Black Women
    Bob Yates
    Book
    Bowling
    Breaking News
    Breast Cancer
    Brenda Ellis
    Broadcast
    Brookhaven College
    Brooklyn Calloway
    California
    Cancer
    Career
    Carlos Baute
    Cary Fagan
    Cbs
    Cedar Hill
    Celina
    Cell Phone Video
    Central High School
    Channel 8
    Charles Whitman
    Cheryl Smith
    Children
    Chris Bradshaw
    Church Bombing
    Cicely Tyson
    Circle R Ranch
    Civil Rights
    Civil Rights Movement
    Civil Rights Pilgrimage
    Clients
    Clothes
    Cloudbaseda0f2d66592
    Communication Management
    Communications
    Communication Skills
    Conde Nast64813fceb0
    Connecticut
    Connecting On Social Media
    Connections
    Connie Dyson
    Consulting
    Content
    Content Marketing
    Cookbook
    Copy Editing
    Cousin Kenny
    Crisco
    CSI: Miami
    C-SPAN
    Customer Experience
    Customer Service
    Customer Testimonial
    D
    Dale Carnegie
    Dallas
    Dallas Advertising League
    Dallas County Democratic Party
    Dallas Interactive Marketing & Internet SEO/SEM Meetup
    Dallas Library Branch
    Dallas Public Library
    Darlene Ewing
    Dart Center For Journalism & Trauma
    David Alan Grier
    David Leeson
    David Meerman Scott
    D.C.
    "Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy In Mississippi"
    Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
    Denise Mcnair
    Detroit
    DFW
    Digital Audio
    Doctor
    Doctorate Degree
    Dog
    Don Rossi
    Don't Believe The Hype Celebrity Bowl-a-thon
    Dorothy Jones
    Dr. Charlie Marler
    Dr. Cheryl Mann Bacon
    Dr. Dennis Kimbro
    Dr. Kathleen Wickham
    Dr. King
    Dr. King's Legacy
    Dr. Lewis Baldwin
    Dr. Martin L. King Jr.
    Dr. Mary Crawford
    Dr. Michael Williams
    Dr. Sam Haynes
    Dr. Tommy L. Brown
    Dr. William Dulaney
    Editing
    Education As A Civil Right
    Edward Snowden
    Edward Welch Jr.
    Ellen Meacham
    Emerson Able
    Emily West
    "Empire"
    English Teacher
    Erick Soderstorm
    Eric Swayne
    Ernest J. Gaines
    Espanole92bbe0581
    Eudora Welty
    Facebook
    Fallen Soldiers
    Fannie Lou Hamer
    Fcc
    First Lady Ruth "Nell" Brown
    First Responder
    First Responder Support Network
    Food Stamps
    Former Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb
    Former Slave
    Fort Worth
    Foster Dog
    Fourth Of July
    Fourth Of July And Social Media
    Frederick Douglass
    Freelancers
    Gabby
    Gartner
    Gates Foundation
    Gene Roberts
    Golinharris
    Gratitude
    Greek
    Greyhound Bus
    Grief
    GriefShare
    Guinness World Records
    Gutenberg
    Gutenberg Award
    Hank Klibanoff
    Happy Birthday
    Harper Watters
    Hathaway
    Helen Pitts
    Hendrick Arnold
    Hershey Bar
    Hidden Black History
    Hidden History
    High School Football
    Historian
    Historiography
    Hog
    Houston
    Houston Ballet
    Html5
    Humboldt
    Husband
    Hyatt Regency Dallas
    Immigration Attorney
    Immigration Reform
    Inc. Magazine
    In Loving Memory Of My Mom
    Innovative
    Innovators
    Internet Marketing Agency
    Ipad
    Irving
    "I’ve Been To The Mountaintop"
    Jackson
    Jackson State University
    Jacqueline
    Jacqueline Madden
    Jacqueline Wald
    Jc Penney
    Jewel Brodie
    Jim Moroney
    JMC
    " Joan Beifuss
    John Glenn
    John McCaa
    Journalism
    Journalism And Project Management
    Journalists
    Katheryn Stockett
    K.D. Paine
    Kennedy-Curry Middle School
    Kenny DeWalt
    Kera
    Kimberly Bryant
    King Memorial
    Komen Dallas Race For The Cure®
    KRBC TV
    KRBC-TV
    Kurl Mckinney
    Kyle Whitfield
    Lakewood Church
    Larry Payne
    Learning Spanish Through Music
    Ledisi
    Lessons
    Lessons Learned
    Library Card
    Library Of Congress
    Life Coach
    Lillian Barnett
    Lincoln Junior High School
    Lisa N. Alexander
    Lissa Duty
    Literature
    Living Will
    Louisiana
    Lovers Lane United Methodist
    Lovey Chin
    Lsu
    Lynne Thigpen
    Lyrics
    Ma Dear
    Mahalia Jackson
    Manassas High School
    Marcus Buckingham
    Margaret Walker Alexander
    Marian Wright Edelman
    Marilyn Calhoun
    Marion Edington
    Marshall Mcluhan
    Marta Sanchez
    Martha Germann
    Martin L. King Jr.
    Mary And Myron Lowery
    Mason Temple
    Mass Slayings
    Master's Degree
    Maya Angelou
    Medgar Evers
    Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr
    Media
    Media Professional
    Media Relations
    Meetup
    Melinda Guravich
    M. Elizabeth Cedillo-Pereira
    Memorial Day
    Memphis
    Memphis Businessman Abe Plough
    Memphis Music
    Memphis Sanitation Strike
    Men Of Change
    Mentor
    Metrics
    Michael Hamtil
    Michael White
    Michelle Obama
    Michigan
    Mildred Taylor
    Millicent Hoskin
    Mindee Zack
    Mississippi
    Mississippi Delta
    Mississippi State
    Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
    MLK
    Mom
    Moneymaking Machine
    Mother
    Motherless Mother's Day
    Mother's Day
    Mp3
    Mrs. Dodie Osteen
    Mrs. Edington
    Mrs. Rowena Whiting
    Mrs. Whiting
    M.T. Reilly Elementary School
    Music
    Music Videos
    My Mom
    Myron Lowery
    Naacp
    NAACP Youth Council
    NABJ
    Narrative
    Nasa
    Nate Silver
    National Association Of Black Journalists
    National Civil Rights Museum
    Newberry Medal
    New Horizons
    New Media
    New Mount Zion Baptist Church
    Newsengin
    Newspapers
    News Release
    Niche
    Norma Adams-Wade
    Npr
    Nursing Home
    Obama
    Office Collaboration Tools
    Ole Miss
    Olympian Gabby Douglas
    Olympus Digital Recorder
    Open Source
    Oprah Book Club
    Osama Bin Laden
    Oscar Pereira
    Pan Awsumb
    Park Place Volvo
    Paula Casey
    Paul Golden
    Peggy Marler
    Personal Mission Statement
    Pet
    Peter Edelman
    Peter Hall
    Pharyngitis
    Ph.D.
    Phyllis Bailey
    PMP
    Positive Mental Framework For Success
    Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
    PR
    Prayer
    President Obama
    Press Club Of Dallas
    Press Release
    Project Management
    Project Manager
    Proven Consultant
    Ptsd
    Public Relations Writing
    Pulitzer-Prize
    Quaker
    Queen Of Soul
    Rachel Shankman
    Reach For The Stars
    Regina L. Burns
    Rehabilitation Center
    Relationships
    #Remember
    Reposition Yourself
    Research
    Research Archive
    Resume Video
    Retailer
    Rev. Al Green
    Rev. Billy Kyles
    Rev. Dr. Thomas Hudspeth
    Rev. James Lawson
    Rev. Joel Osteen
    Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
    Rev. Paula White
    Richard Howorth
    Richardson Humane Society
    Richard Wright
    Richland College
    Richmund Punch
    Rocks Digital
    Ron Hadfield
    Rose Braziel
    Ruby Anik
    Ruby Dee
    Russ Mitchell
    Sales
    Samsung Telecommunications America
    Sanitation Workers
    Scholarship
    Scott H. Cyton
    Secret
    "Selma"
    Sen. Joseph Clark
    Sen. Robert Kennedy
    SEO
    Shama Hyder Kabani
    Sharepoint
    Sharon Matlock
    Shih Tzu
    Sick
    Singing Dog
    Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
    Small Business Saturday
    Smithsonian Institution
    Smu
    SNAP
    Social Media
    Social Media And Spanish
    Social Media For Project Managers
    Social Media Marketing
    Social Media Trends 2013
    Social Media Writing
    Southern
    Southern Literary Trail
    Southern Writers
    Spanish
    Spanish Language
    Spectrum
    Sportsdayhs
    Stakeholder Communications
    Stakeholder Engagement
    Stephen Covey
    Steve Abel
    Strategic Advantage
    Students
    Studying Spanish
    Success
    Susan Perry
    Technology
    Ted Ownby
    Television Journalism
    Television News
    Tenn.
    Tennessee
    Texas
    Texas Dog
    Texas Highways
    Texas Revolution
    Thankful
    Thanksgiving
    Thanksgiving 2012
    Thanksgiving Prayer
    The Association Of Magazine Media
    The Bar-Kays
    The Dalai Lama
    The Dallas Morning News
    The Potter's House
    The Press And Civil Rights
    The Race Beat
    The Zen Of Social Media Marketing
    Thou Art Loosed Conference
    Tim Haydin
    Tom Mccracken
    Tracey Ferguson
    Travel
    Treasured
    Trends
    Turkey And Dressing
    Turkey Trot
    Tweetdeck
    Tweetup
    Twitter
    Twitter And Spanish
    TX
    Underemplyed
    Unemployed
    Unita Blackwell
    University Of Missouri-Columbia
    UNT
    Usa Today
    UTA
    Vanderbilt
    Veterans
    Video
    Video Conversion Software
    Videographer
    Viola Cole
    Viola O'Neil Cole
    Virtual Machine
    Volvo
    Walking Partners
    Washington
    Wav
    WDIA-AM
    Wealth
    Wendy Calhoun
    WFAA
    Wikipedia
    Will
    William Moore
    Witi
    WLOK
    Wma
    Woman
    Women
    Women In Technology International
    Women Journalists
    Women's History Month
    World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions Of People To Spread Your Ideas And Share Your Stories
    Wrapping Black Hair
    Writing
    Writing Your Goals
    Yahoo! Eye Tracking Study
    Yoda
    Youtube
    Zora Neale Hurston

    Archives

    February 2023
    October 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    March 2018
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe in a reader
  • Home
  • About Us
  • The Work
  • Portfolio
  • Regina's Blog
  • Contact