Funeral services will be held tomorrow in Monticello, Ky., for Jerry Gibson, who was known to publishers and editors across Kentucky because he probably helped half the state's newspapers install computers and other technology. "He maintained he had installed the first computer pagination and layout equipment in this part of the country," reports The Times Journal of Russell Springs, where he lived.Gibson and Times Journal co-owner David Davenport founded the lakecumberland.com Web site, and Gibson "was the man behind the keyboard at wildcatsradio.com, which is known to many as the definitive University of Kentucky basketball Web site, and a moving force for years at the Star Theater," the weekly reports. His body was discovered after he did not update the site with UK's loss in the National Invitation Tournament. He was 57. (Read more)
Gibson co-founded weeklies in Monticello and Somerset. Stuart Simpson, who competed with him in their hometown and collaborated with him in Somerset, had this to say on the Kentucky Press Association blog: "He was a reporter, editor, photographer, graphic designer, historian, computer expert, magazine editor, salesman, author, Internet web designer, musician … the list could go on. A lot of the things he did, especially in communication technology, he recognized the importance of before most people, and he could do better than most people. Mostly self-taught, Jerry was a very, very smart guy. I learned a lot from him, as did anyone who had the opportunity to be around him. But Jerry just couldn’t sit still doing one thing for very long. There was always something more exciting, more challenging that he wanted to get involved with." Other commenters included this poster, whose professional newspaper career Jerry helped start. May his energy and wit be long remembered and emulated. (Read more)
2 comments:
I can still remember as if it were yesterday the day in 1987 when Jerry Gibson arrived in the offices of our newspaper, The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, to install four Macintosh Plus computers, two 10-meg external hard drives, and one Laser Plus printer.
After working very patiently to teach my mother, who is now 83, how to use Microsoft Word and a very early version of Pagemaker, then made by Aldus, she was able to teach the rest of us and we had finally joined the modern world. Didn't think technology could ever get any better at that time!
Not to take anything away from those doing now what Jerry was doing then, but there never will be any better.
Ben Gish
I can still remember very well the day in 1987 that Jerry Gibson arrived in the offices of our newspaper, The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, to bring us into the age of desktop publishing by installing four Macintosh Plus computers, two 10-megabyte external hard drives, and one Laser Plus printer.
After working very patiently to teach my mother, who is now 83, how to use Microsoft Word and a very early version of Pagemaker, then made by Aldus, she was able to teach the rest of us with the help of numerous phone consultations and other visits by Jerry. Didn’t think the technology could ever get any better at that time! Also still in my memory is the phone call he made to recommend that we explore digital photography, which was pretty darn new in the late '80s.
Not to take anything away from those doing now what Jerry was doing then, but there never will be any better.
Ben Gish
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