The thing I admired most about Alan Cruikshank was his commitment to community journalism.
Alan was a newsman, the kind who earned the ink in his blood through endless hours of work; work he carried out in every facet of the newspaper industry. He wrote stories and columns, took photos, attended countless events and made sure the people of Fountain Hills knew what was going on in their own back yard.
He helped build The Fountain Hills Times and its various other publications from the ground up and, in doing so, became part of this community’s very foundation. He understood the importance of chronicling the town’s history and, over the course of decades, became a walking encyclopedia of that history. His mind was a steel trap for every manner of statistic, fact and random bit of trivia for the town he loved and called home for so many years.
On a more personal note, I would not be here today if it were not for Alan. About 17 years ago, a scrawny kid from Northern Arizona University walked into Alan’s office for an interview with him and former editor Mike Scharnow. I’m not sure what convinced Alan and Mike to take a chance on that kid, but they offered him a job and he eagerly accepted it.
I remember Alan asking, “Can you write about schools and sports?” and I answered, “If you’re offering me a job, I’ll write about whatever you want me to write about.”
Then, about 12 years later, Alan took another chance on that same guy and asked him to take over as editor. The rest, as they say, is history.
I would have never agreed to be editor if I did not believe in the man behind the paper, Alan Cruikshank. I knew from my years working for him that he truly believed in the importance of community journalism and the service it provides its readers.
To Alan, pictures of cute kids and high school baseball games were just as significant as thorough breakdowns of the latest Town Council action. He knew that this paper provided a service no other publication could provide and, to our readers, local street projects and photos from a holiday celebration are just as important as whatever is going on at the state and national level.
The word “quit” was not part of Alan’s vocabulary. I’ve heard stories of him editing pages from a hospital bed. My last conversation with him was over the phone on Tuesday, Oct. 25, just before we were ready to put that week’s paper to bed. As always, he had spotted a couple errors that nobody else in the office had caught.
As Mike Scharnow noted in his own remembrance, Alan and I didn’t always see eye to eye, and that’s a good thing. It taught me to question my own ideas, have strong reasoning for my decisions and always be willing to see things from another perspective. He made me a better editor and journalist, and I will always be thankful for the times he pushed me to improve.
I’m going to miss Alan. He was a tremendous boss and mentor, and I know he always had my best interest, as well as the best interest of this community, in his heart. His tribute in this week’s paper, written by longtime reporter Bob Burns, highlights those points nicely. The man’s contributions to this town are immeasurable.
But while he meant so much to me in this crazy world of newspapers, I will equally miss connecting with Alan on a more personal level. I don’t think his absence will really settle in for me until 2023 rolls around. Just about every year since I started working here, Alan and I would talk shortly after New Year’s Day. We had a shared love of The Twilight Zone and, during those calls, we’d chat about which episodes we watched during the annual television marathon.
That’s a small thing that had no impact or meaning to anyone else in the world, but it’s moments like that I will miss the most. And that, in a nutshell, is what community journalism meant to Alan. The news that happens in a small town like Fountain Hills might not mean that much to the outside world but, to those of us who live, work and play here, it matters a great deal.
