Dave Berry: Who Is This Guy?
Just who is this guy? There are lots of Dave Berrys out there. One Dave Barry (not Berry) wrote a widely syndicated humor column. One was popular British rock star. Another published a newspaper in Missouri. One was a combat soldier in Vietnam who posted his photos online, and a British wedding photographer with a similar name (Dave Perry) has a site that pops up in some searches.
So, who am I? I'm a native Kansan who grew up on a wheat farm and received a journalism degree in 1970 from Kansas State University. My first job at the Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kansas, was cut short when I was drafted into the Army in 1970. I was trained as an Army journalist and served in Vietnam as a combat correspondent for the U.S. Army Information Office in Long Binh. I wrote stories and shot photographs for military papers, including the Stars and Stripes.
Returning to civilian life, I worked for five years on the copy desk of the Tulsa Tribune before coming to Texas in 1977 as managing editor of the Brazosport Facts. After five years on the Gulf Coast, I spent another nine as executive editor, overseeing seven community newspapers published by the Dallas-Fort Worth Suburban Newspapers. I then served a stint as editor of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer before returning to Texas in 1994 as managing editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas.
I served in Tyler as managing editor and then editor for 20 years. I was president of the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors board of directors in 2008-2009, and in March 2010 was awarded the Jack Douglas Award, the Texas APME's highest honor for editorial excellence. Upon my retirement at the end of 2014, my journalism career had spanned more than 44 years.
How I Became a Storyteller.
I was always an avid reader, spending hours lying on the carpet reading newspapers and news magazines... the Russell (KS) Record, Wichita Eagle, Time, Newsweek, Saturday Evening Post and U.S. News and World Report. I stayed on top of current events but never saw myself as a storyteller or even considered a career in journalism. "Brave Men," by Ernie Pyle was a favorite book, but I went through high school without setting foot in a journalism classroom. After a year and a half pursuing an accounting degree at Fort Hays Kansas State College, I realized I was chasing the wrong dream, and a friend convinced me to visit the newsroom of the college's small weekly paper, and I was hooked. After my sophomore year, I left Fort Hays to enroll at Kansas State University in Manhattan. At K-State I discovered words are indeed more fun than numbers.
I polished those skills in Vietnam. After graduation, I was drafted and became an Army journalist, serving at Fort Bragg and then Vietnam in 1971 and early 1972. Combat troops were leaving, and I reported on the "Vietnamization" phase of the war. As a correspondent for Headquarters, U.S. Army Vietnam Information Office in Long Binh, I traveled the country, reporting on the hand-off to South Vietnamese troops. How were they trained? How were they taking new roles as American and allied troops departed? Of course, whether ARVN troops were well-trained, well-led, well-disciplined, or ready to stand and fight, those questions would have to be answered by others more qualified than a specialist fourth class fresh out of journalism school.
I became a storyteller in Vietnam, then in newspaper reporting and column writing. My weekly "Focal Point" column ran for four years in the Tyler Paper.
Non-Journalistic Interests
In Tyler, I served on the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, executive committee, business-education council, and medical committee. I was also a board member of the Hispanic Business Alliance, Tyler Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Student Media Advisory Board at the University of Texas at Tyler.
I am co-founder of Fit City Tyler, a community initiative launched in 2010 by the Tyler Paper and Northeast Public Health District (NETHealth) to raise awareness about the crisis of obesity. I was co-chair of the Steering Committee for a dozen years, and for those efforts to make Tyler a healthier community, I was honored in 2011 with the Doc Ballard Award, an annual NETHealth award.
Some of my writing comes from six trips to Washington, D.C., serving as an escort for World War II veterans aboard Brookshire Grocery Co. Heroes Flights.
After retirement, I devoted my time to volunteer work, helping restore Cold War planes in Tyler's Historic Aviation Memorial Museum, helping organize a helicopter air show, and assisting in the creation of several "Salutes" to veterans at the American Freedom Museum in Bullard, Texas.
My wife Martha and I live in Rowlett, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Martha is a Cherokee beadwork artist and Cherokee National Treasure, whose work can be seen online at www.berrybeadwork.com. Our two married daughters, who are amazing in their own rights, live in Austin and Garland.
Exhibiting My Photography
I've been a photographer and storyteller, mostly as a professional journalist, for almost 55 years. Until the last few decades, I never displayed my work - other than what ran in one of my newspapers - for anyone other than immediate family. In 2010, my daughter convinced me to join her in her home/studio as part of the East Austin Studio Tour. Since then, I've taken part in another E.A.S.T. and a separate show in Austin and exhibited my work on a number of occasions at the Downtown Tyler ArtWalk.
The columns I wrote in Tyler prior to retirement struck a chord with my readers, as I hope they will with you. And you'll probably notice that many of my photos carry a headline and have their own stories to tell. Since retiring, I have focused on continuing my writing and in learning more about what my camera can do.
I joined the Rowlett, Texas Photography Club, and for several years took part in a weekly photo challenge, posting a fresh image on their site each week. I've shot the eclipse, birds in flight, smoky sunsets, night-time images, long-exposure... and pushed my camera to the limit. I even bounced it - and myself - down a trail in the Big Bend. It's been great fun, but I'm not finished exploring. So, I hope you will keep coming back. Who knows what you'll find.
The photo at left is of the Lady Carol, a shrimp boat that went aground off the Surfside Jetties in 1978.
Exhibitions & Art Events
The Rowlett, Texas Photography Club is my newest photo interest, and I have taken part in a number of meetings, presentations, and photo walks. I don't display my work as much these days, but I have bought a new lens and set my sights on learning astrophotography. And, in taking part in the club's 52-week Challenge, I had a hundred percent participation, except for one miss this year. So, watch this space.
Thanks to everyone who came out to see my photos at those early ArtWalks in downtown Tyler. In two years, the event grew to become a major Saturday quarterly festival. The crowds were great, and my venues were fun - everything from the lobby at Liberty Hall to the State Farm office to the Pilates studio. It was great. I took part in five ArtWalks before they were discontinued to make way for other events.
East Austin Studio Tour, over two weekends in November. In 2010, I was one of about 250 artists in 150 studios, and my story was told on video by KLRU, the local PBR station. The number of artists and venues in E.A.S.T. kept growing in 2011 and 2012. It was lots of fun; a good show. I displayed my photos at the home/studio of my daughter Christina and her husband, Errek Hill, and I was one of a half dozen or more of their artist friends who joined us for those weekends of fun. Then, they got too deep into the total restoration of their home and took a well-deserved breather.
CulinArt 2011, A Gala of Surreal Fantasy, was Feb. 17, 2011, in Austin. It benefited the Wright House Wellness Center. Organizers saw my work at E.A.S.T. and asked me to donate a photo to the silent auction. My photo Paintballs Not Bullets was awarded an honorable mention and earned me a place in a special exhibition at the Pump Project June 11-24, 2011.
The Wright House Culinary Winning Artists Exhibition ran from June 25, 2011, at the Pump Project Art Complex in East Austin. I met some wonderful people and displayed some of my photos alongside the work of three other award-winning artists.
One of my photos, I've Got Your Back, is on display in the Vietnam gallery of the American Freedom Museum in Bullard, TX. That same photo is also in the lobby of the Texas State Veterans Home north of Tyler, TX.