A serious boy in 1934 asked Santa Claus to bring him a pencil box for Christmas, and he trusted his county paper, the Gloucester Gazette, to deliver this message.

So the course of a long life was set.

Robert Marble died on Saturday at the age of 95, staying active to the end, and much will be said about this native son who remained in his hometown and worked for its improvement for decades. Every tribute will be true and deserved.

It is another aspect of his life that we wish to call to your attention. Bob Marble was a newsman to the marrow of his bones.

As a Botetourt High School student in 1944, he wrote sports articles for the Gazette-Journal. Upon graduation he joined the Army and fought in the closing months of World War II, also sending dispatches home to the paper.

The war over, Bob returned to Gloucester and took up work at the Gazette-Journal, leaving in 1949 for the Newport News Daily Press and building up a remarkably strong local bureau. That made him a comp...