This is my final column for The Courier-Herald.

My final day here is Feb. 26 and the past year has been great.

Like all journalists, friendships are forged and some remain intact after many years.

I have worked for newspapers in three states – Louisiana, Texas and here – since 1980.

Along the way, there are several friendships which have endured time and thousands of miles. Friendships developed with co-workers and people you cover as a journalist.

In 1997, I met Bryan Green, an assistant football and baseball coach at a small high school in Texas. A friendship with him and his family developed and has remained since the first day. Every Christmas, I receive a holiday card with a photo of him and his family of four. We talk about four times a year, mostly about work, family and football.

He still lives in west Texas and is an assistant football coach in Seagraves.

Mike Lout owned a radio station in Jasper, Texas. We became good friends when we would work together on election and sports coverage in the east Texas town.

He covered the James Byrd dragging death in 1998 and was interviewed on ABC’s “Nightline” several times.

I was surprised when I received an e-mail last month from Mike saying he was elected mayor of the city he has covered for more than 20 years.

Since 1990, Buckie Wimberly and her family have been close friends of mine. We worked together at a small weekly newspaper in Hempstead, Texas – known for the pregnant cheerleaders who made the national news and Montel Williams Show in the 1990s.

Her daughters, Amanda and Abby, would be in the office once or twice week after school waiting on mom to finish work. Sometimes I would pick up the girls at school and bring them to the office because she was busy with customers or appointments. That usually meant a trip to McDonald’s for ice cream.

Today those same girls are grown and one has a family.

Even today, there are friendships among fellow journalists, county, city and school officials, and even coaches, which I cherish.

I often run across people I covered – whether it was a feature I wrote or a high school athlete I covered.

Thanks to Mayor Neil Johnson and the Bonney Lake staff for their assistance in covering their great city. Also, to Staci Guirsch and Sue Hilberg for keeping me abreast of happenings at the Bonney Lake Senior Center. It’s a great place to hang out.

Also, thanks to Sumner School District Athletic Director Tim Thomsen and the coaching staffs at Bonney Lake and Sumner high school. And to Communications Director Ann Cook for updating me on school activities and sharing photos.

To everyone else, the same. I will not forget my time, or people I have met, covering Bonney Lake and Sumner.