Evening Sun

I HATE to see The Evening Sun go down. After all, we grew up together. My first attempts at serious reading 80 years ago focused on H. L. Mencken's "Free Lance" column on the Evening Sun's editorial page where he was sharpening the barbs that later pierced the hides of all "mountebanks" (charlatans or frauds) to national acclaim.As a kid I sold The Evening Sun around North and Linden avenues to get movie money. The chap who "owned" the corner would sell me five papers for three cents; so I had to peddle 25 copies to reach my objective.

Elsinor Towson Roman, a former Evening Sun secretary who worked for H.L. Mencken, died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. Mrs. Roman, who was a descendant of Gen. Nathan Towson, a Mexican War hero for whom Towson was named, was 94. She was born and reared Elsinor Towson in Baltimore and graduated in 1927 from Western High School. She worked during the early 1930s as a legal secretary for the Baltimore law firm of Smith, Smith, Cross and Simpson. In 1938, she came to work at The Evening Sun as secretary for three months and worked for Mr. Mencken, who was temporarily serving as the newspaper's editorial page editor.

A characteristic of The Evening Sun has been the friendly practice of newsroom and editorial staffers and alumni to keep in touch and see one another over the years.A 75th anniversary party drew 700 employees, alumni and guests to Hunt Valley Inn in 1985. Almost 300 alumni and staffers attended a farewell party last Saturday at Center Stage.To give a flavor of current alumni pursuits, here is a somewhat random list of alumni now in other jobs. Our regrets to those not named.Ernie Accorsi: assistant general manager, New York Giants.

John M. "Jack" Lemmon announced today that he would retire as managing editor of The Evening Sun at the end of the month.Lemmon, 63, served in the post for 12 years.Lemmon's announcement comes as The Sun and The Evening Sun begin to merge their news staffs.In a memo to the staffs today, John S. Carroll, editor of both newspapers, said: "One of the least happy consequences of our decision to merge the morning and evening news staffs is the diminished role of the evening managing editor."Although Lemmon had planned to work a while longer before retiring, he said, "The changes coming just made that impossible.

"I hate to see the evenin' sun go down."-- W.C. Handy My first deadline assignment for The Evening Sun took me to the old federal courthouse on Calvert Street. It was September 1976. A couple of older, wiser and bearded reporters - they called me "Snookie" - needed help taking notes and filing copy for the late editions. They were covering a big trial. Whose trial? The governor's trial. Right then, right there, I knew Baltimore could not be the sleepy backwater snobby friends in New York and Boston had warned it would be.We covered breaking news at The Evening Sun, and there was plenty of it. We wrote stories at 6 a.m. that were in print by 10, wrote stories at 10 that were in print by noon, wrote stories at 3 that were in print by evening rush.

Ginger Glindemann and Judy Martin, old friends from another day, walked around Loudon Park Cemetery in southwest Baltimore at Christmas and noticed there was no holiday wreath this year at the Evening Sun Newsboys Band Memorial.''Where's the wreath?'' Ms. Glindemann asked shortly thereafter. got smaller and smaller and this year, there's none. Other people have noticed this, too.''Actually, it's been several years since The Sun put a Christmas wreath at the monument and flowers there on July 4, the anniversary of a grim and famous Chesapeake Bay disaster, 70 years ago this year.

Richard K. Tucker, a former Evening Sun reporter and Korean War correspondent, died in his sleep Saturday at his home in Mansfield, Mass. He was 89. Mr. Tucker was born and raised in Fort Madison, Iowa, and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1936 from the University of Iowa. He was a reporter for the Indianapolis News for six years until joining the Army in 1942, when he joined the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific. He also was a witness to the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, family members said.

From the Evening Sun75 years ago:"The Best News Stories of 1924," edited by Joseph Anthony and Woodman Merrsion (Small, Maynard).Here are seventy stories taken from the newspapers of 1924 . . . The Baltimore Sun has three . . . Two by Raymond Tompkins entitled "The Democratic Convention Opens" and "Nellie Morse Wins the Preakness," and one by William R. Rhodes. The Evening Sun scores with "The End of a Yellow Peril" from the pen of Robert R. Mill.The collection is full of interests and the stories, for the most part, are of the better class of reporting.

The Evening Sun publishes its final editions today, a victim of changing times and failing circulation.During its 85-year lifetime, the Baltimore paper gained a national reputation for the social and political commentary of its most famous alumnus, H. L. Mencken. It won a pair of Pulitzer Prizes and helped launch the careers of many talented journalists, including biographer and author William Manchester, and broadcasters Jim McKay and Louis R. Rukeyser.Lively and irreverent in its heyday, The Evening Sun was created by the morning Sun in 1910 to challenge Baltimore's two afternoon papers, the News and the Star.

Walter L. Taylor Jr., a former Evening Sun sportswriter who later became an ordained United Methodist Church deacon, died of Alzheimer's disease Wednesday at Charlestown Retirement Community. He was 87. Mr. Taylor was born in Baltimore and raised in Walbrook. He was a 1933 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1937 from what was then Western Maryland College. He began his career in 1937 in the sports department of the old News Post, and joined the Evening Sun in 1940.