Rob Vanstone: In memory of our good friend Foster Barnsley

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Foster Barnsley is a true original, a veteran of the old newspaper house, and seems born to do very good work for a long time.

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Even the name seemed ideally suited for the job. Or for a character in a movie about newspaper art.

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When I met Foster, in the summer of 1986, he showed up for work in the middle of the night. I had heard a lot about him even before our paths first crossed.

After all, he was (and still is) royalty in the Regina Leader post.

Foster stood out in many respects. One of his trademarks is the suspenders that have always been part of his wardrobe.

I couldn’t miss him—even though we all miss him so much.

Foster died on November 2 at the age of 83.

We heard that his health was not in perfect condition, but the sad news still hits everyone like a thunderbolt.

We thought Foster would be around forever. In fact, we often teased him about his longevity in 1964, even before his Park Street building at the Leader-Post opened.

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He was hired by his hometown newspaper two years ago and started as a general reporter before quickly shifting his focus to farming.

During his time at LP, Foster held a myriad of roles including Legislative Reporter, Layout Editor, Associate City Editor, City Editor and News Editor. The latter job description applied when we met in 1986.

Al Driver was also at the copy desk that morning. I stayed up all night at my first summer job, and just as I was about to go home, Foster walked in.

He and Al started Kibbitz in a very funny way.

I didn’t know Foster until the early 1990s when he was news editor for Regina Sun. (The Sun turned into a weekly magazine now called QC.)

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Long before I wrote a regular sports column for LP, one of my eruptions appeared in the sun every week, sometimes weakly. Hence the regular interaction with Foster.

Sometimes he jokingly delivered the ultimate compliment: “Keep up the good work.”

For a while my wife was Sun’s resident staff writer, so I had the opportunity to work directly with Foster on a daily basis.

He couldn’t have been nicer to Chrissula, or to all of us, during his newspaper career until his 65th birthday in 2004.

Even after Foster left the newsroom, I heard from him regularly. It seemed like he read everything we wrote.

Incurable copyeditor, he let us in—or was it just me?!—to know if he caught an error.

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And if he likes the story, he immediately emails or preferably calls (again: the old fashioned way).

I was reminded of Foster’s status as a throwback as I flipped through a well-worn assignment book that was once part of an archival exhibit near the entrance to the newsroom.

The assignment book was from 1963. Seeing that, I immediately turned the page to his November 22nd.

The only person I knew: Foster Barnsley.

Shortly thereafter, on March 21, 1964, Foster and Gail exchanged their wedding vows. (I was born 9 days later.)

The Barnsley family soon moved to Saskatoon, where he was hired by Star Phoenix, then a western producer. He had a degree in agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan, so no introduction to Saskatoon was needed.

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While in SP, Foster, a licensed pilot, was known as “The Flying Reporter”. He went from small town to small town and told stories of rural Saskatchewan.

His skills in the cockpit were also appreciated in July 1966 when he flew on behalf of the LP and SP to cover the RCMP’s comprehensive search for fugitives from Regina Prison. rice field.

In the spring of 1968, Foster left SP to join the State Government’s Information Services Division. He resigned in 1970 and returned to LP as an agricultural reporter.

1976 began with the announcement that Foster had joined the Winnipeg Free Press. The Winnipeg Free Press has launched a Saskatchewan news station. He was fully involved in the Free Press Weekly Agriculture Report.

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But by the end of the year, Foster’s byline was back on our page. For nearly 30 years, he was unbroken and in many respects unbeatable with his LPs.

Simply put, there has never been anyone like him, except maybe in movies.

But it was a real honor to meet Foster Barnsley in real life.

(Rob Vanstone is the sports editor for Regina Leader-Post.)

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