Thoughts about a remarkable gentleman
Lynne Morian Grasz, a 1966 graduate and an honored alumnus during the 2001 J Days celebration, wrote to Dean Will Norton soon after the funeral of Dean Emeritus Neale Copple. Following are excerpts of that letter.
I've received an e-mail ... of your remarks at Neale Copple's memorial service, and I know Neale would have been so proud to have heard your praise of all he accomplished.
I was one of his students and was the first broadcasting student to take depth reporting. Neale really didn't know what to do with me since I wouldn't be writing an in-depth newspaper story. He allowed me to use my imagination and come up with a compromise.
I decided to document the "Sounds of Spring" as a 30-minute radio show and visited Judy Koepke's family farm near Norfolk. ... Neale was impressed and insisted that it be played at the spring journalism awards banquet, although I think most attendees thought there was a thunderstorm outside, since that was part of the audio: a good old Nebraska spring thunderstorm.
When Neale and I last saw each other at the September 2002 journalism reunion, we shared this memory and showed each other our depth reporting rings. Neale was still wearing his. Funny, but the only person I wanted to have my picture taken with that evening was Neale, and I asked Susan Ranta if she'd take it. She did, and I was so happy to see it in the Journalism Alumni News.
Neale truly was my mentor ... in an age when we didn't use that word. He taught me so much about writing ... and editing, and today I think I'm a better editor than writer because I didn't want to write another obituary, which was our penalty for any mistakes we made in stories in class.
I'm sorry I missed the memorial service because I'm traveling. ... Thank you for representing us all with your wonderful remarks about a remarkable gentleman.
Kindest regards,
Lynne Morian Grasz
