The first time I received a typed letter handsomely hand-signed with a flourish of blue ink by the Newcastle Herald's John Lewis was back in August 1988.
I was a 17-year-old upstart, he was the newspaper's acting editor and the letter was a reply via the miracle of next-day snail mail suggesting way more politely than was necessary that I should, you know, maybe actually finish high school before I pestered him again about getting a job as a journalist at my local paper.
One HSC exam and three more don't-call-us-we'll-call-you letters later, I finally snagged that job interview with Mr Lewis in his little deputy editor office in the unfashionably wood-panelled newsroom upstairs at the Herald building on Bolton Street.
And it would be Mr Lewis who'd telephone afterwards to say that I could start work as a first-year cadet journalist on Tuesday, June 6, 1989 - the thrilling prospect of a three-year traineeship ahead of me.
There would be many more notes and memos from Mr Lewis through those formative years. Always formally addressed to "Mr Joyce", the daily handwritten notes would point out errors of grammar or style or suggest story leads, while the occasional typed memos - flawlessly typed up by one of his talented secretarial sidekicks and adorned with that signature blue flourish - outlined rather more official sanction, praise or, better still, promotion.
This week, at the age of 90, after a remarkable 47 years writing about wine for the Herald, Mr Lewis has signed off from his weekly column of elaborately descriptive, palate-tinglingly silky tasting notes - the winemakers of the Hunter Valley quite rightly raising a glass to his outstanding contribution to their industry.
Now a toast to his equally impressive 70 years of journalism. As Mr Lewis calls "stop the press" on his Herald contributions, we tip our old-school newspaperman's trilby to his achievements as a journalist and editor.
But first, a recap: After applying for cadetships at the Herald, the Maitland Mercury, the former Newcastle Sun and the ABC, the young John Lewis got his start at the Armidale Express, followed by a stint at The Daily Advertiser in Wagga then back to Newcastle and the afternoon tabloid Sun. There, he worked his way up to deputy editor before switching in 1979 to the then broadsheet Herald where he began as business writer and retired as editor-in-chief in 1993.
In 1981 he won Australian journalism's highest honour, the Gold Walkley. The first regional journalist to win the prestigious prize, his reporting on the battle for control of Newcastle TV station NBN was forensic but compelling - not unlike those crisply crafted newsroom memos and his fabulously full-bodied flourishes with flavoursome wine words.
So, as one of the many journalists he's hired and inspired over the decades, a memo from me to Mr Lewis: Thank you, John, for giving me my start in this newspaper caper. I'm forever grateful.
Here's what three other senior editorial leaders at ACM - publisher of the Herald - had to say about the editor who also gave them their first job at the same paper:
Jen Melocco, ACM national property news director: "I haven't used the word "got" in a story since John Lewis called me into his office (via a note in my pigeonhole attached to an article with the word 'got' circled) and told me there would always be a better word to use and he never wanted to see it used again in the Herald. I haven't used it since and that example of attention to detail has stayed with me; the lesson that great journalism is about the big picture and the smallest detail".
Chad Watson, ACM head of publishing and a former Herald editor: "It's been 34 years since Mr Lewis hired me. I will never be able to repay him. Hundreds of others would say the same. He might politely recall my misplaced bravado flouncing into the Bolton Street office that first day. But what he wouldn't know is that I've saved every personal note - good or bad but always encouraging - that he ever left in my pigeonhole. A true gentleman of journalism, Mr Lewis - I still call him that - always delivered his message with motivating clarity. Rather than bid him farewell I say thanks and best of luck as I file away a copy of this message under "Lewis J." - somewhere between "legend" and "lexicon".
Rod Quinn, ACM editorial director and a former Herald editor: "John Lewis is one of Australia's most respected regional journalists and editors of his generation. His contribution reaches far beyond his Gold Walkley and his time leading the Herald to include all the journalists he influenced throughout his career. He hired me as a cadet in the 1980s and like so many others I learned a lot from him about diligence as a journalist and leadership as an editor, not to mention an appreciation for good wine. I will always be thankful".
- James Joyce is ACM executive editor and a former deputy editor of the Herald.
