Jack Betts
Jack Betts is retired associate editor of The Charlotte Observer, where he wrote editorials, a weekly column on politics and a blog called This Old State. He also wrote about baseball, barbecue and boats whenever he could get away with it.
He is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, served as president of the Capitol Press Corps in Raleigh and chaired the North Carolina Editorial Writers Conference for several years. He has appeared on PBS’ “North Carolina This Week” and “N.C. Spin” as well as “North Carolina People with Bill Friday.”
He and his wife of live near Meadows of Dan, Virginia, where he writes Rocky Knob Blog, looks after an old 66-acre farm, has begun planting apples and plays a bit of bluegrass on his 1959 Kay upright bass. He serves on the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation board of trustees.
More from Jack Betts
My cousin Sid Paine died the other day while on a trip with his wife Elaine up in Vermont, pursuing their common passion for travel, meeting other folks, hearing their stories and telling, oh, I would guess about 1,000 stories of their own.
When we woke up yesterday the thermometer told us what season it was: 46 degrees, and no longer late summer.
—Jack Betts
My grandfather died a decade before I was born, but among the things I eventually inherited was his vintage set of Handy dies and taps. They helped save the day when we discovered our water supply system had three separate leaks, and we would need more than just good will and man power to fix them.
On a peg on a wall in a dusty corner of my workshop hang the collars and tags of some of the best friends I ever had. We've had four fine dogs who have graced and enriched our lives with their intelligence, heart, companionship and unconditional love. I suspect there'll be at least one more.
More Articles
