Weekly newspaperman, Sun columnist, and good friend Jack Tennant died Sunday, May 20. He was 82.
Jack hired me at the Airdrie Echo in February 1992. We first met at the Home Quarter restaurant in Cochrane in December 1991. He smoked at least a pack while we chatted and ate bacon and eggs — Jack had little time for health food or exercise. My job description was vague – there wasn’t really an opening. That was Jack.
We became partners when we launched the Olds Albertan in 1993. His son Ian was our first editor. Our business relationship included a partnership in the Innisfail Province.
He made his mark as the page 5 columnist at the Calgary Sun. Readers devoured his folksy, humourous, irreverent and often self-deprecating column. He was the Calgary Sun’s best-read scribe, making him a local celebrity. He supported the underdog, the underprivileged and would skewer those who deserved it.
The Manitoba farm kid had a quick mind. He was perpetually upbeat. When you asked how he was doing he’d often respond “pretty darn good”— even when he wasn’t.
He loved his family, kids, dogs, pies, golf, coffee, film cameras, darkrooms, newsprint, community, and helping those down on their luck.
He’d hit bottom himself — addicted to booze and living on the streets of Vancouver in the mid-1960s. The Salvation Army gave him food and shelter – he’d often say religion was a ham sandwich when you haven’t eaten for a while. Alcoholics Anonymous offered the tools to stay sober and a second chance at life.
He never forgot who helped him — he spearheaded the annual Sunshine Fund at Christmas, raising millions for the Salvation Army. Jack attended AA meetings for the rest of his life — sponsoring countless others and helping them through their addictions. In 2009 he may have saved more than a few lives at a Cochrane-area AA meeting when Jack convinced a gunman to give up his weapons.
Jack purchased his first weekly, the Airdrie Echo, in 1980 and eventually started or acquired several weeklies, including the Cochrane Eagle — launched by Jack, Ian and his wife Brenda in 2001.
He loved the competition of a two-paper town — if you do your job you’ll win the fight. Profit was never a prime motivator for the consummate newspaperman — he’d often say he loved the newspaper business better than the business of newspapers. Jack’s Manitoba bookkeeping system consisting of pen, paper and ledger served his needs better than modern methods.
His health declined considerably in the last few years — kidney failure requiring daily dialysis, as well as a temperamental heart, were only a few of his issues. His body failed, but his spirit and wit never faltered. Jack told me he was going to donate his body to science fiction and quit buying green bananas.
Thanks Jack for introducing me to this incredible business. You lived a pretty darn good 82 years and helped a great many along the way. You’ll be missed.
