The world just lost a great human being.
The University lost a great teacher; the country lost one of its greatest journalists; the Daily Lobo and alumni of the student paper lost a great writing coach; and the community lost a valuable member when Henry Trewhitt died yesterday.
This man, who has been an integral force within my life since I stumbled into the University of New Mexico as an 18-year-old freshman, once told me that we should never use euphemisms when telling readers that somebody died. "Don't say 'passed away' or some other such nonsense," he'd repeat over and over each time we made the error.
For Hank Trewhitt was a man of bluntness, intelligence and endless support and empathy. He loved the English language and journalism and writing. He loved his wife, his children and his students. He loved life and teaching and mentoring to his very last second.
I know he loved us, the rabble of student editors and reporters and others who make up the New Mexico Daily Lobo. He was editor in chief of the Lobo in the 1940s, eventually going on to work at The Baltimore Sun, Newsweek and The U.S. World and News Report. He came back in 1989 to teach journalism at UNM, then retired in 1997 and has been the writing coach at the Lobo ever since.
Hank taught me everything I know about journalism for almost four years. He challenged me to do things I never thought I could and supported me in some of my darkest moments, believed in me in my uncertain times. He has been a large part in shaping who I am today and who I will be for the rest of my life.
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I will miss him so much. His friends, his students, his colleagues will miss him. We are better people having known him. He never wanted a big fuss made over him, but I don't know how not to fuss over somebody who means so much to me -- and to so many others.
We will always think of Hank Trewhitt as a force larger than life and that's how he should be remembered.
Angela Williams
Editor in Chief
