Pops said. “I can’t say this is a great advance. It doesn’t make interesting
writers. Some of the best writers I know can’t spell worth anything.”
And so my father was active in managing his companies even into his
later years. A 1990 graduate of Ithaca College, Rodd Perry remembers
being a “little awestruck” working for Pops his senior year: “He’s
probably one of the only people I’ve called ‘Sir’ in my life….He really
had a presence….He was very much involved in the running of his
newspapers and radio stations down to minute details.” Ed Adams, general
manager of WNCT in Greenville, said, “Mr. Park knew you on a first-
name basis, and he knew what an operation was doing.”
He had no plans to retire. When he was seventy-one, he said, “I’ve seen
a lot of my friends retire and get out of the stream of things. They’re not
only unhappy, they get dull. They get very sensitive and feel people don’t
treat them right. In business, I meet some of the most interesting and
stimulating people. Besides, I enjoy it.” As banker John Watlington put it,
“There are people who just don’t recognize time or age restrictions, who
just go on doing what they want to do.”
CHAPTER 23: DEFINING HIS OWN LEGACY
Going through the notes and memos my father wrote to me, I came
across one to which he attached an editorial from the North Carolina
Leader. The article was dated September 28, 1978, which was during my
third year as vice president of Park Broadcasting.
His note said: “This is my friend Margaret Knox of the North Carolina
Leader, and I must say I am in agreement with this.” The editorial was
headed A special Breed and it read: Evidently most persons associate the
definition of workaholic with something intrinsically bad and downright
un-American.
This has come to the Leader’s attention in recent months; the fact that
other employees and many others regard anybody they pinpoint as a so-
called workaholic as someone not to be trusted, even a threat.
This editorial is in defense of those called workaholics.
What is commonly misunderstood is the very fact that work is fun. Yes,
fun. Workaholics—those this newspaper knows—don’t work for a larger
paycheck, or even anything material.
It takes someone with spirit and knowledge to so apply himself. Work
must be so absorbing that the body and mind don’t tire.
Elation, the drive for excellence, and the ability to lose oneself—only
to find oneself—are some of the rewards.
