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Show """""AUTOd-DIGIT 64124 " 013 UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION BG5 1 f.21 E 3900 S SALT LAKE CITY" UT 64124-1501 i III I ii i i ii ii I l ..II-. -Ill Wednesday, January 31 , 2007 ii . ywww.vernai.com - ! 1 Steve Wallis : Single Copy 50$ Vernal, Utah 84078 115th Year No. 4 The man who touched our lives The editor and publisher of the Vernal Express, Steve Wallis, Wal-lis, died suddenly on Tuesday morning, Jan. 30. He was 52. Family members said his death was caused by a heart aneurysm. aneu-rysm. Nobody who met Steve could impose on his quiet conciliatory con-ciliatory nature; both in writing and speech, he was ever a gentle man. Born in Vernal in 1954, Steven Ste-ven R. Wallis was the son of Janet Decker Wallis and Jack R. Wallis, the owner of the Vernal Express. Steve studied journalism journal-ism at BYU, returning to Vernal to write for his father. "He loved to run the press," said his wife Tami. Steve loved his family, his wife Tami (Lowry) and children Dustin (wife Emily), Christopher Christo-pher ("Kit"), Oliver, Jessica, and Sophia. Steve's love for his kids even got him to take up snow-boarding snow-boarding just to be with them. He is survived by his mother, Janet Wallis, and siblings Mark, Neal, Cindy, David, and Brian. Steve was an avid photographer photog-rapher - he especially enjoyed photographing wildlife. He was also a fly fisherman, but even more than that, he loved to ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. motorcy-cle. A devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Steve was a 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric, Sunday School President, and Extractor, roles he truly loved. Steve was a former president of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. Viewing will be at the Thomson-Blackburn Funeral Home at 6:00 Thursday evening. Services Ser-vices will be held at 11:00 Friday morning in Vernal at the Mae-ser Mae-ser Stake Center. Steve always said. "The Vernal Express is a newspaper newspa-per about and for Vernal," and there was always something to write about Vernal. His sudden passing has left Vernal without a voice and the community is in mourning. We, his staff, at the Vernal Express feel like an extended family. We are experiencing experi-encing a great loss, as we work as a team missing the leader, to get the paper out this week. We remember him with the words of others who bring their voices together to recall Steve Wallis: "I once was at a Rotary meeting where Steve gave a presentation on the history of the Vernal Express. It was great to see his eyes light up when he told about how his family bought the paper and how he was carrying on the tradition of bringing the news to rural Utah. He was proud of that tradition. tra-dition. He loved being a newspaper news-paper guy and how he and his family had served Vernal and the surrounding area through thick and thin. He was proud of how he helped to shape the history of the Uintah Basin. History and tradition were important to Steve. We will remember Steve as a friend, a nice guy, a leader, a traditionalist, tradition-alist, and a historian. Friend, you will be missed." Brian K. Gorum, President, Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. "We loved Steve because he was a good, good man with a fun sense of humor." Charlotte Hyde. "I practically grew up with Steve and the press. My Dad, Arnold Baker, was the photographer photog-rapher for the Vernal Express for maybe 25 years." Dean Baker, Bak-er, Naples City Mayor. "When I got the assignment at Uintah High School Steve was on the Yearbook staff, my first year to be responsible for it I don't know if I would have been able to do it, if Steve hadn't been there. I never look at him without thinking about a beautiful photograph he took for the still life competition. The photo was of a pair of glasses, glass-es, anuyi won the first prize. " 3 & at : Steven R. Walos He was a very talented photographer photog-rapher and I always thought that was his calling." JoAnn Cowan. "Our hearts are saddened by the news of the passing of Steve Wallis. Steve was a respected competitor and friend. It has been our privilege to work alongside Steve, during the countless public meetings as we hurriedly took notes and assembled reports by which our citizens could be better informed. Steve had true journalistic jour-nalistic integrity pertaining to his reporting of local newsworthy newswor-thy events. Steve was a valiant steward of our community. He continuously used the influence influ-ence of his family-owned hometown home-town paper to promote a true sense of community pride. We have the greatest respect for Steve, his father Jack, and his mother Janet, for all they have done for our hometown." Steve Evans and the Staff of KVEL Radio. "The citizens of Uintah County have lost their greatest asset with the passing of Steve Wallis. Steve always shared his knowledge and insight of the county and citizens with us when asked and often expressed his opinion on issues that maybe we didn't want to hear, but we needed to. Steve was an excellent listener and always gave us good advice. Steve's honesty, integrity and willingness will-ingness to serve were beyond reproach. He will be sorely missed by all." David Haslem, Uintah County Commissioner. "Steve Wallis was not just my employer for nearly five years, he was also my friend. Working for Steve and the Vernal Express was more like an educational experience than a job. He always made me think and often made me laugh. He created a place for me in the Vernal community, for which I will always be grateful. I have missed him since I moved away from Vernal one year ago, but I held the hope of seeing him again. Now, I miss him more." Virginia Harrington, former Vernal Express writer. 'teve was a competitor and a colleague. He was also a friend. You could count on him. We would give each other tips, trade barbs, and help each other out Our community is poorer this morning." Lincoln Brown, KVEL. "Steve was a good father, he supported his kids in their sports I admired that in Steve." Dahn Caldwell. "Traveling about Vernal this morning, the subject was the death of Steve, and rightfully right-fully so. Having written Steve many 'letters to the editor,' over the years, I recall how he challenged me on the facts, and I respected him for that. I can say with certainty, he was a friend and advocate for the veterans." Charles Gray, DAV Commander. "Steve was always someone you could rely on and turn to for the benefit of our community." Alan Mashburn, Vernal City Mayor. "We appreciated him for his real, down-to-earth nature and being everybody's friend." Debbie Deb-bie Bingham. "In 1990, when I moved to Vernal the job market was very tight. I was hired as a proofreader proof-reader and ad designer at the Vernal Express. I was always grateful to Steve for hiring me because I felt like it gave me insight into the local area. Steve was always very generous gener-ous with his time through his association with the Chamber and always attended the Chamber meetings. He will be greatly missed and was a valuable asset to the community." commu-nity." Julie Curry, Executive Director, Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. "There are many ways in which an individual can influence influ-ence a community, . and the press carries a great weight and a tremendous responsibility. responsi-bility. Steve and I talked, at length, many times about how the press molds a community. Steve's approach to the press was to raise the necessary questions, ques-tions, but to also help Vernal grow and prosper. I have heard Steve say on many occasions occa-sions that he felt the weight of responsible reporting and that he was dedicated to getting it right and being fair. In my last conversation with Steve, which was Friday, he indicated that he wanted to make a sizeable, personal donation to USU. For my part, and on behalf of USU, Steve has already contributed much and leaves a positive and lasting legacy in our community; commu-nity; we will miss him greatly. We wish his family all the best and pledge to them our support." sup-port." Rob Behunin, Utah State University Uintah Basin. "I had a great deal of admiration admi-ration for Steve, I found him most willing to express both sides of a controversial issue. In addition, he was a very kind and caring man. I've known Steve for a long time, I'll dearly miss him." Gary Showalter. "Today I have the sad task of writing to express my condolences con-dolences to the family of Steve Wallis. Throughout our working work-ing relationship, Steve always provided a balanced view of Ashley National Forest activities activi-ties affecting the citizens of the Basin, ensuring a well informed public was present to participate in Forest decisions. Through Steve's fair approach to reporting, many Forest activities have been clearly and cleanly portrayed to the public in keeping with the best practices of journalism. Steve never hesitated to work with the Forest on the submission of news releases or legal notices close to deadline to ensure the public was informed. His dedication dedi-cation to providing accurate and timely information with minimum delay to the public was present in every issue of his paper and is in keeping with the finest traditions in journalism. His devotion to ethical eth-ical reporting will be missed." Kevin B. Elliott, Forest Supervisor, Ashley National Forest. "Steve dedicated his life to telling the stories of the area and serving in the community commu-nity and his efforts will not be soon forgotten. He will always be remembered by those who knew him well as someone who worked hard and cared about what he was doing. When we were short of staff, he would do the work of three, four or even more people just to get the paper out and never complained com-plained to his staff about the extra work he had to do. Before I came to the paper, I had always wanted to be a writer, and though I had some experience, experi-ence, I certainly didn't have a lot. I felt from the beginning that Steve believed in my abilities, abili-ties, helped me to grow professionally, profes-sionally, and truly allowed me to fulfill my dreams." Jennifer Petty, writer. "Steve was a good friend and supervisor and I will miss him. His passing will be a great loss to the community." communi-ty." Richard Harrington, past Chamber Director. "As Public Relations Director at Ashley Valley Medical Center, I have worked closely with Steve Wallis for . the past ten years, but I have known him and his wife for over 20 years. Steve was a man of great integrity. He loved the Vernal area and dedicated himself him-self to making the Basin a better bet-ter place for all of us. To that end, he gave countless hours of volunteer service to many organizations, including the Uintah Recreation District and the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce. He will be greatly missed, but always remem- . bered." Debbie Spafford, Risk Manager, Public Relations, Privacy Officer, AVMC. "We just have to keep on walking. It might be a little slow, but we've got to keep on walking. I think that's what Steve would say." Ed Zurbuchen. . fejt |