Gaetano (“Tom”) Serra
With a number of insiders predicting the imminent demise of the Kansas City Star, I have to confess there’s one feature I will really miss if it goes…
I know I date myself by this, but I’ll miss the obituaries.
It’s not just those of people I know personally or their family members, or people known in the community.
The most interesting and inspiring obits are sometimes of people you don’t know or who many would say were not prominent.
On Tuesday, for example, I read about a man called Gaetano (“Tom”) Serra, who died in Pittsburg, Kansas at age ninety-nine. Mr. Serra was born in 1916 in a mining camp in rural Cherokee County, No. 42 Camp, or Camp Mackie, the son of Italian immigrants.
He played football at Frontenac High School on the undefeated 1935 team, a team that was unscored upon until its Thanksgiving Day game against its neighbor and arch-rival, Arma High School.
After high school, Mr. Serra married Leopoldina Bergrant, to whom he was married for 76 years until her death in 2014. They started out living in another mining camp, Camp 13 or Camp Yale. Mr. Serra was a lifelong member of the United Mine Workers, serving a term as president of the local.
Battle of the Bulge
Serra worked most of his life at the Mackie-Clemens Coal Co., where he rose to the position of dragline operator. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Cavalry (mechanized), attaining the rank of Tech Sargent. At the Battle of The Bulge his unit was surrounded and his tank was knocked out by a German 88 mm gun, but Mr. Serra made it back to American lines in the snow and bitter cold.
Not surprisingly, upon his return to his beloved Frontenac he became very active in the American Legion, the Frontenac School Board and the Sacred Heart Parish. He was also a Little League Baseball coach and mechanic and handyman, who liked helping neighbors.
Mr. Serra maintained ties with relations in Italy, taking two trips there with his family. He got to see and meet in person cousins with whom he’d only corresponded before and to visit his parents’ birthplaces. He was also able to use Italian again daily, his first language which he’d learned at the mining camp where he was born almost a hundred years ago.
This man embodied the American dream.
He led a rich life and left the world a better place. His family should be very proud, as should everyone in the community he loved and honored by his presence.
sorry jr…..I don’t read the obits. Too depressing!
However frontenac was a town consisting mostly of Italian/Sicilian immigrants…
many from Chicago including criminal figures who left Chicago to escape the
heat in Chicago.
Had a friend who lived thre…..verynice town..and no crime!
Another great vet leaves us. Thanks for your service Mr. Serra. RIP!
Wonderful and very beautiful article..
before i stopped taking the paper, i would sometimes do the same thing, just read about someone’s passing and a brief summary about what they did with their life, maybe what impact they had on family and friends; just normal everyday people you pass in the street, never knowing a thing about their lives.
I’d also reflect on the fact that someone in the family took the time to write it all down, many quite obviously proud of their loved one.
I guess, and really don’t seem to have the right eloquence here, that that’s part of the richness of life, of people, we should pay more attention to now, rather than after their death.
Well said, miket; you had just the right eloquence. The obituaries that make me sad are the ones that just say the person died — nothing at all about their life or loved ones. I always wonder, could they not afford the space? Every life has something to say.
Those ads are not cheap, gayle…
When I first started and for like ever, they were free. Considered a public service.
No mas
They’re looking to get every last nickel these days and that’s a high profit area – as evidenced by the space they take up.
It’s funny, but the Star has been going after the Chiefs for selling tributes to fallen soldiers. When the newspaper has been doing the same thing the past several years.
Watch for their ad section where military families have to ante up to celebrate their loved ones come this Memorial Day
I know they’re not cheap; I’ve had first-hand experience. So if people want to write something but can’t afford it, that’s sad. But it’s sadder if they don’t care enough to write something.
Good piece, Dwight. I read the paper every day with the exception of the advertisements and the obits is the first thing I read. My wife is an amateur genealogist and she encourages many she works with to share the type of background stories that often appear in the individual obituaries, with younger family members to preserve the family history.
I know a few individuals that have made the effort to write what they would like to see in their own obituaries and shared with their children. It might include information that the children or grandchildren were completely unaware of. Sort of the last act of control one might have over their own life. Also some that have written lengthy letters to their children or grandchildren with instructions not to read until after their death.
Not to get too morbid here but in addition to attending the funerals of family members and friends, I also try to attend the funerals of friends and associates of my parents (both deceased) as a sign of respect from them to the family of the deceased. In the Jewish faith, attendance at one’s funeral is the ultimate mitzvah that can be paid to the person as it cannot be replaced. Some of the most powerful orations I have heard are the eulogies expressed by the family and freinds of the deceased.
Guess I must appear to be a macabre individual but you have touched on an interesting topic. Thanks for going there.
Count me in as a fellow obituary reader–well, I “skim” them, I don’t read every single one through and through, but certain ones will catch my eye–those who die at an advanced age because often times they have led very interesting lives. And then, sadly, those who die very young, especially parents who leave behind young children…those situations are heartbreaking.
When I read the Star’s political columnists, I feel like I’m in the obituaries. But I try not to get confused. I says to myself, I says I says, Yale Abahabadoo is still very much alive, even if he sounds and looks like a walking sarcophagus.
“With a number of insiders predicting the imminent demise of the Kansas City Star…”
Oooh insiders! Who are you now, Tony Botello?
Thank you, I despise the Star and their liberal bias. But claims that the KC Star is somehow going under or is going to shutdown is a stretch. McClatchy (MNI) is a publicly listed company. Unlike companies like the New York Times, which is concentrated in one market, McClatchy consists of a variety of small to mid-sized companies across the country. The company is not dependent on the KC Star. While this does not preclude it from bankruptcy, this diversification limits the risk from one paper. McClatchy owns careerbuilder.com and a real estate website. These assets will most likely be sold (in excess of 1 billion each) to reduce/eliminate the debt. The debt is the biggest laggard on this company. The McClatchy company sees the Star as a flagship product with the Miami Herald. In fact, if you take the time you will see that they are taking a new focus in the KC Star.
“We have great people working across the company in advertising sales and we have the largest media sales force in virtually every community we serve. But our sales teams need to be properly organized, trained and incentivized to fully succeed and I think we’ve been coming up short in this regard and we owe our customers better. So our first couple of markets, Kansas City and Miami, will be implementing new sales structures in the next couple of months, we are also beginning to accelerate plans in our other large markets to do the same.
This will take some time and maybe a bit bumpy, but we think this is a critical initiative in our digital transformation.” —– From the Q1 earnings call.
Looking at the numbers offered in presentation, you will see growth that is above the industry average in digital publishing. Their money woes come from the fact that digital advertising does not fetch the same “whale” advertising deals as print once did. I am sure Hearne understands the advertising side quite well. This is a growing pain across the sector, some have been more successful than others. From the mouth of the horse, you will see changes being rolled out in Q2 and Q3 begining this month. You will not see the print paper going away and neither will the Star.
“”We’ve interviewed hundreds of the individual readers about how they’re using the various platforms in the digital age. What readers want these days even from the printed newspaper is not what they wanted a few years back. But let me be clear, reducing the number of days we provide the printed newspaper is not a part of this plan. Rather, we’re looking at ways to improve readership and reset priorities and it will impact a process of news production dramatically, putting much more emphasis on our digital products. We’re launching the initiatives in May and plan to roll out to our markets over the course of the next several months.”
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Star apologist, but just from the business side you will NOT see the Star go away. Now thats not necessarily a good thing, and we can always hope it will, but it won’t. At least not in the next 1 or 2 years. It might be sold to another publisher, but usually purchasers are in better shape that the seller. So if the Star were to be sold from McClatchy, it would be to a stronger company. And someone doesn’t buy an asset to shut it down. So I don’t see where this fear of shuttering is coming….. If I am missing something, please let me know.
These concerns have come from former top executives at the paper. They are speaking out of fear of losing their pensions,which are extraordinarily generous for those at the very top.( The paper’s fixation with income inequality does not apply to itself.) I can easily see the paper going to a week day and Saturday on line format,with an actual print edition limited to Sunday only. I don’t see anything wildly apocalyptic about that prognosis,but it would mean the end of the daily newspaper as we know it and with it,the usual offerings of such. As disgusted as I am with the biased coverage of the paper and its infantile leftism,I don’t want it to go out of business,so don’t liken me to a disgruntled ex-employee motivated by sour grapes and thus hoping for it to implode.
Maybe we are talking different time frames. But someone with the wealth you have, understands (or your wealth advisor understands) the scripting that goes into quarterly earnings calls. The use of the phrase “LET ME BE CLEAR, reducing the number of days we provide the printed newspaper is not a part of this plan” His use of, “Let me be clear” is important. These calls are for analysts and these remarks are scripted. I see no switch to once a week print editions, at least not in the shor-term. 2017, 2018, if the stock drops below a dollar and the McClatchy family doesn’t authorize a reverse split and there is a risk of de-listing from the stock exchange…. MAYBE, but executives don’t use that clear of language without the intent to follow through in good faith. But I will admit, you know more about executives at multi-million dollar companies than I do.
I’m going to go on a little bit of a rant. Its Friday and I have had a few beers before we go out for dinner. But who here is still under the illusion that the news “business” has anything to do with the news? We aren’t having an academic discussion on the responsibilities of the 4th estate, we aren’t talking about what news services should be, we are talking about public compainies with the responsibility to drive profits for shareholders. I’m not talking about the KC Star I want, not about the newspaper I want, not about a newspaper that does what they teach in journalism school. I’m talking about numbers on a screen, about arrows up and arrows down, about capital preservation and growth, about a company that is not only the KC Star but a collection of KC Stars and Lawrence whatever they call themselves.
So let me fill you in on my perspective from a purely monetary standpoint, because shareholders in MNI could not careless if the Star is nothing but shit on a screen or Pulitzer prize reporting, as long as 4 times a year the numbers MNI reports are black and not red.
The KC Star is nothing but a distributor. Taking from the news wire, re-packaging, and distributing to their share of the overall news market. They sprinkle in local news stories and press releases. The latter is expensive, it takes people, human capital, to make these one-off pieces. And human capital is the most expensive form of capital. These stories serve one purpose. To draw people within their market, to their distribution, because without these local morsels people would have no reason to visit kansascity.com vs the AP myway site. How many times have you seen the exact article on multiple “news” sites in different markets with a different banner and packaging. The exact same AP story with a KC Star, Wichita Eagle, Lawrence whatever they call themselves, Dallas Morning News banner at the top? These companies leverage their local base, with easily produced local stories about kittens, to drive traffic. The substance is irrelevant because its only purpose is convince people that if they go to Drudge/MyWay/Huffpo they will miss what is local.
The news industry is facing a stark reality, and undergoing a marked transition. Print is like the convention business, its going the way of the do-do bird. Why travel to KC for an expensive convention when I can Facetime or GoToMeeting at a fraction of the cost? Why pay for delivery and print when I can go to TKC or Drudge or MoveOn or Facebook or Twitter and find all of the day’s stories in one place? And for the publisher, why spend exorbinant amounts of money on producing a story that is here today gone tomorrow, when for the same amount of money I can regurgitate 50 press releases prepared for me by…. you guessed it, the companies themselves? In the first case, I spend too much money producing ONE story (and it may be one HELL of a story, or it may be a dud) that will drive traffic ONE time. In the second case, I have a weeks worth of content, for the same cost, to sprinkle in, combined with the real news I am pulling from the AP or other news wires to drive traffic ALL WEEK. Is it fulfilling to my reader base? Probably not, scratch that, most assuredly not. But I accomplished my goal. My goal being to convince the people in my market to take my distribution of low cost news.
You see investigative journalism and Pulitzer worthy reporting is high risk/ high reward, stories about cats and press releases are low risk/low reward. And Wall Street LOVES sure thing much more than a home run. A penny in the hand is better than a dollar in the bush. So everyone in Kansas City can philosophize (sp?) about the shit we call journalism, but REAL journalism is too risky.
Great!
Nothing quite like beginning an endlessly long looking Harley post wit, “I’m going to go on a little bit of a rant”
Obviously you are much more informed than me and have thought much more deeply about the economics of newspaper publishing than I have. I won’t argue but the last time I heard a CEO use unequivocal language of the kind you cite was when Ken Lewis of Bank of America swore in late 2008 that there were no plans to cut its dividend,also playing to analysts. I’ m sure he was sincere,just as the McClatchy management is now. Circumstances change,just as they are before our very eyes as the Star circles the drain. I don’t like it,don’t want it,but when ex-editors angst because their ten or fifteen thousand a month pensions might vanish with the snows of yesteryear,it’s the not-so-invisible hand of self-interest speaking,and thus it’s credible. Otherwise, I agree with your thoughtful and informative comments and appreciate the time you took and effort you made to make them.
Never thought of it that way. Makes sense though.
We all, to the smallest of saplings, look forward to the day when the Kansas City Star, shuffles it’s liberal, mortal coil. The incessant whine of leftist cant, reminds us all of the terrifying screams of a Steelmax blade, as it brings down another gallant forest neighbor in the quest for Marxist domination.
Now, as more and more of us survive, we can throw more and more shade at the hubris of such little, little people. They are far more comfortable, far, far from any light.
I am not a soul for reading obits, whether it is acase of not wanting to face my mortality, or the fact that I don’t have heirs, groveling after my fortune. Reading this, maybe I should expect calls of long lost heirs tomorrow. My main thought was that the Star building was built with TIF financing, some form of tax abatement, which will leave the taxpayers of KC on the hook should it close. For the liberal arguing against corporate welfare, you’d be hard pressed to find a better case. So, we lose a newspaper, and we have a white elephant, fit only for a newspaper. Perhaps, the mayor, council, and city manager who ok’d the financing should save the city the expense and personally dig deep out of their own pockets for their mistake. One more property off the tax rolls. I bet that obit will be good for at least a front page headline.
Where is “Pittsburgh” Kansas? “Pittsburg” (without the “h”) is down by Frontenac. Does anyone spell-check or fact-check anymore?
Cue Hearne’s typical response that it’s a typo.
My bad. Spell-check wouldn’t have caught it,which is why it got through. No excuse, sir,won’t happen again.
Yeah, Jesus…, bust out a burka made of sackcloth and lets hear some bird chirping noises while ya flagellate yourself with American Pharaoh’s whip.
Mea fu*kin Culpa.
Thank you so much for the wonderful article on my late Father, Gaetano (Tom) Serra. He was a unique and very talented individual who led a very interesting and eventful life. I would point out that my Mother’s maiden name was Bergant, not Bergrant. Her parents were immigrants from Slovenia. Keep up the good work.