Saying so long but not goodbye to Nancy Saul, a remarkable colleague

By Mike Fak

[March 30, 2010]  Nancy Saul has retired from the print Lincoln newspaper, and I and everyone at LDN want to wish her and her husband, Ray, many long years of retirement doing what they want to do, when they want to do it.

I have known Nancy for almost two decades, and I have considered it both an honor and a privilege to have covered so many community events where she too was there. I also consider it an honor and a privilege to know her as a friend.

I once told a group that everywhere I go, I saw Nancy, and everywhere I didn't go, Nancy was there as well.

But besides being an active reporter, she had a knack for always enjoying the moment, no matter what it was. With her she carried a pen and paper, a camera, and an always ready smile that many young reporters could and should emulate.

Nancy always understood that the core of any event was not the event but the people involved, and she documented in words and pictures those people and their stories in a stellar fashion.

I'm not sure any media person in any market knows a greater percentage of the population than Nancy. She just seemed to know everyone and to care for everyone, and you could see the mutual admiration being returned to her.

I learned a great deal from Nancy. Not only about working an event but also about finding that interest within my heart to give the story my full time and concentration. That was important. I found out early on that if I didn't try as hard as I could to do a human interest story justice, Nancy would smoke my socks off when stories were compared.

She was a trooper as well as a marvelous storyteller. Last year when the fair queen pageant was buried in a sea of mud, pictures from the far-away grandstand were marginal in quality. Nancy waded across the muddy track, going almost up to her knees in mud, but that was the only way to get a really good picture of the fair queen, so that is what she did.

Nancy has a competitive nature, and she would give you that impish smile of hers when she knew she had something you didn't and she sure wasn't going to share it. But she was just as quick to be a friend, giving me a few tips when I struggled with a new camera or helping with the spelling of a person's name.

This weekend I saw Nancy at the health fair. She was enjoying the day. She didn't have a notepad or a camera, but she still had that smile as she visited with her many friends.

I know I won't see Nancy as much as I did in the past, but I look forward to those times when I will. She always has had a love affair with the people, places and events in this community, and I am certain I will see her at many, just as an observer rather than a reporter.

Nancy Saul is part of what makes this community such a great place to live. She is a marvelous person with a caring, giving heart, and I find myself blessed to know her.

Congratulations, Nancy, on an amazing career. You are the very best among us.

[By MIKE FAK]