Tuesday, December 30, 2014

A Self-Effacing Pulitzer Prize Winner In Our Midst - Taylor Armerding



Taylor Armerding is a friend and a fellow alumnus of the Wheaton College (Illinois) Class of 1970.  Taylor is so humble that I had no idea that he was part of a team that had earned a Pulitzer Prize until I opened up the pages of the most recent edition of Wheaton College Alumni News.  In a section entitled, "Faith In The News," Andrew Thompson writes:

"Right before Christmas in 2002, a young boy fell into the frozen Merrimack River and drowned, along with three other boys who braved thin ice in an effort to save him. When this tragedy struck, Taylor Armerding ’70, son of Wheaton’s fifth For their rapid and thorough reporting of the incident, Armerding and the staff at the Eagle-Tribune won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, and then passed the cash prize of $7,500 to the grieving families. 

“We felt good about the work we did, but we were humbled that the community opened up to us,” Armerding says, noting that he entered into the most intimate and painful time these families had ever experienced by drawing on lessons learned at his alma mater. “The Wheaton community is a community of amazing compassion, and I was able to reflect some of that. It’s not something that comes naturally to me.” 

Armerding, now a freelance journalist with a weekly opinion column appearing in 50 newspapers, is one of many alumni in journalism whose faith drives their work."

I encourage you to read the rest of this article in the link below.

I also encourage you to use this reminder of Mr. Armerding's act of compassion as a spring board to resolve to look for opportunities in the New Year to be a blessing when unanticipated situations confront you.


Wheaton College Alumni Magazine - "Faith In The News"

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